30 more Bangladeshis rescued from the Mediterranean return from Tunisia: BRAC

Thirty more Bangladeshis, rescued in the Mediterranean Sea on their way to Italy, returned to Dhaka Thursday from Tunisia.

All of them, who were victims of human trafficking, arrived home on a Turkish Airlines flight at around 12:00 pm, BRAC’s migration programme head Shariful Hasan said.

They are now under the care of the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport authority and being provided with emergency support, including food and water.

Of them, seven are from Shariatpur, six from Madaripur, four from Gopalganj, three from Tangail, two each from Faridpur, Kishoreganj and Sylhet and one each from Cumilla, Dhaka, Noakhali and Munshiganj.

Earlier this year they went to Dubai with tourist visas and then moved to Libya and finally to Tunisia. Next, they crossed the Mediterranean through Tunisia and headed towards Italy.

Similarly, 13 Bangladeshi victims returned from Tunisia on 19 August, 17 on 1 July and seven more on 24 March.

According to BRAC, around 5,278 Bangladeshis entered Europe this year in similar style.

As many as 65,000 people entered Europe illegally from Bangladesh in the past 12 years among which 40,000 crossed the Mediterranean Sea in risky voyages.

Most of them belong to the age group 25-50, added Brac sources.

Many of them have become victims of either trafficking or smuggling into several countries - Libya, Tunisia, Malta, Bosnia and Herzegovina even amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bangladesh now tops the list of source countries whose nationals have tried to cross into Europe through the dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean Sea.

UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, recorded 937 deaths in first six months of this year in the Mediterranean, many of them Bangladeshis.