A total of 166 stranded Bangladeshis returned home from south Indian city Chennai while 198 Britons, who had been stuck here due to flight suspension amid COVID-19 pandemic, left for London by the 3rd special flight of British Airways on Saturday.
“A chartered aircraft of British Airways flight took off from HSIA at 3:47 pm today for London carrying 198 British passengers,” HSIA Director Group Captain AHM Touhid-ul Ahsan told media.
Earlier, around 440 stranded British nationals left Dhaka by two special chartered flights of British Airways, arranged by the UK government in coordination of the British High Commission here, on April 21 and 23.
The British government has arranged another such chartered flights on April 26 to take its citizens, mostly expatriate Bangladeshis permanently residing in the UK, from Dhaka with accompanying transfers from Sylhet.
The flights are intended for British nationals who are on holiday or are short-term visitors to Bangladesh.
Earlier on Saturday, a chartered flight of the US-Bangla Airlines, one of the country’s private carriers, brought back 166 Bangladeshi nationals, who got stuck in South India as the neighboring country continues nationwide lockdown since March 25 to contain outbreak of coronavirus.
US-Bangla Airlines general manager Kamrul Islam told media that their special flight operated by Boeing 737-800 ER aircraft arrived at HSIA at 2:48 pm from Chennai carrying 166 Bangladeshi citizens, including five children.
From April 20 till today, nearly 1,000 nationals were brought back from India by six chartered flights – five from Chennai and one from New Delhi – while the passengers bore the cost of their own tickets for the flights.
As per the government decision, all returnee Bangladeshis will be sent to 14-day institutional quarantine under the management of the Armed Forces Division (AFD) if they fail to show medical certificate at the airport on their arrival here.
Bangladesh High Commission in India has kept their efforts on to facilitate the return of more Bangladeshis who are still stuck up in India.
On April 3, the foreign ministry issued a statement, saying that nearly 2,500 Bangladeshi citizens, including 1,000 students, were stranded in India due to COVID-19 outbreak.
On April 11, Bangladesh extended ongoing ban on flight operation till April 30 to and from all European countries and the nations that restricted the entry of Bangladeshis to their territories, including India, as well as on all domestic routes over the coronavirus scare.
Currently, regular commercial flights are being operated from Bangladesh to China only, reports BSS.
