Aircraft with 400 passengers returning from Madinah stranded at runway in Chattogram

A Biman Bangladesh Airlines aircraft (BG-138) arriving from Madinah, Saudi Arabia, is stranded on the runway at Chattogram’s Shah Amanat International Airport. The incident has disrupted flight operations at the airport. The aircraft is carrying around 400 passengers, including Hajj pilgrims and expatriates.

One of the passengers on the flight, a Chattogram resident Dost Mohammad, was returning home after performing the Hajj. Speaking to Prothom Alo over the phone from inside the aircraft at around 11:15 am, he said the plane departed from Madinah, Saudi Arabia, at 11:30 pm on Friday and landed in Chattogram at around 9:15 am this morning.

It was raining heavily at the time of landing. After touchdown, while making a U-turn, the aircraft got stuck midway on the runway. He said he had been sitting inside the aircraft for nearly two hours.

When contacted at around 11:30 am, Mohammad Ibrahim Khalil, spokesperson and engineer at Chattogram’s Shah Amanat International Airport, told Prothom Alo that Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight BG-138 from Madinah landed at 9:30 am. and got stuck at the end of Runway 23 due to a mechanical fault. He added that efforts were underway to resolve the issue and remove the aircraft from the runway as quickly as possible.