Thirteen 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, came back home on a Turkish Airlines at 1:15pm, Brac 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.
Among the 13 returnees, nine are from Shariatpur, two from Madaripur, and one each from Chandpur and Cumilla districts.
Earlier this year they went to Dubai with visit visas and then moved to Libya and finally to Tunisia. Next, they crossed the Mediterranean through Tunisia and headed towards Italy.
On July 1, another 17 Bangladeshis victims and on March 24 seven returned home.
Bangladesh now tops the list of source countries whose nationals have tried to cross into Europe through the dangerous voyage across the Mediterranean Sea.
The number of Bangladeshis reaching Europe through the illegal route was 3,332 till July 26 of this year, which is the highest among the 47,425 refugees and migrants reaching Italy, Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Malta, mostly through sea routes in the same period.
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. Untold numbers have perished of course.
UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, recorded 937 deaths in just the first six months of this year in the Mediterranean, many of them Bangladeshis.
At least 60,000 Bangladeshis have entered Europe irregularly since 2009, according to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, also known as Frontex.