544 Bangladeshis return from Dubai, London

A total of 391 stranded Bangladeshis returned from Dubai on Saturday while 153 Bangladeshis left London to return home by separate chartered flights of Biman Bangladesh airlines as they were stuck abroad amid flight suspension due to COVID-19 pandemic.

A special flight of Biman from Dubai of United Arab Emirate (UAE) landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) at 4:36am on Saturday carrying 391 Bangladeshi citizen, airlines spokesperson Tahera Khondoker told news agency BSS.

Meanwhile, another chartered flight of national flag carrier departed Heathrow international airport in London for Dhaka carrying 153 Bangladeshis at 10:30am (London local time), said a press release issued by Bangladesh High Commission in the UK.

The flight was scheduled to land at HSIA at 00:30 am on Sunday, it added.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to the UK Saida Muna Tasneem saw off the returning passengers at the airport while she expressed her deepest gratitude to prime minister Sheikh Hasina for this special flight.

This is the second repatriation flight from the UK as Bangladesh High Commission in London in close coordination with the foreign ministry and Bangladesh Air Force arranged the first chartered flight on 10 May to repatriate over 100 stranded Bangladesh citizens from the UK to Bangladesh.

The government so far repatriated stranded Bangladeshis from different other countries including India, the USA, Australia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea.

The other countries, including the USA, India, Japan, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, Bhutan, Myanmar and different European countries also operated several special chartered flights amid the flight suspension to repatriate their citizens from Bangladesh.