247 stranded Bangladeshis to return home from USA
A special flight with 247 Bangladesh citizens, stranded in the USA amid coronavirus pandemic, will arrive Dhaka early Sunday.
The passengers include mostly Bangladeshi students studying in different colleges and universities in the USA, Bangladesh citizens who came to America on tourist and business visas and some government and non-government officials.
The flight, scheduled to depart for Bangladesh on Friday from Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), will land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 4:00am (local time) on Sunday, said the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington.
On 4 May, the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs chartered the flight of Qatar Airlines to bring home the stranded Bangladeshis in the USA.
Earlier on 30 March, the Bangladesh Embassy in DC and the two consulates general in New York and Los Angeles, on an instruction of the Foreign Ministry, circulated a notice through their websites seeking information from the Bangladeshis who had been stranded in the USA amid COVID-19 pandemic situation.
A large number of stranded Bangladeshi citizens provided their information by email to Bangladesh Missions from 30 March to 30 April showing interest to return to Bangladesh by a special charter flight at their own expenses.
They also requested the Bangladesh government through the Bangladesh Missions to facilitate their return by a special flight.
The sophisticated chartered airbus A 350-900 of Qatar Airlines is scheduled to arrive at Doha International Airport at 7:00pm on 16 May.
After one-hour technical stopover at Doha airport, the plane will leave Doha at 8:00pm (local time).
During the stopover, all passengers will have to remain seated in the aircraft, said the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington.
On arrival at Dhaka airport, the passengers will have to submit health declaration forms to Bangladesh Immigration officials.
Bangladesh embassy in Washington DC gave the forms to the Qatar airlines for distribution among the passengers.
All the passengers will have to carry COVID-19 symptom-free medical certificates.
The embassy helped the passengers who could not collect the medical certificates in cooperation with a pool of Bangladeshi doctors here.