A fresh batch of 140 Bangladeshi citizens returned home from Libya on Thursday by a chartered flight of Buraq Air.
Among them, 113 people were affected by floods in the city of Derna in eastern Libya and 27 were detained at Ganfouda detention centre in Benghazi, according to a foreign ministry press release.
A flight of Buraq Air carrying the Bangladeshi nationals landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 6:30am on Thursday, said the release.
Foreign ministry officials and officials of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) received them at the airport.
Upon their arrival at the airport, the IOM provided Tk 5,919 and some food to each of the returnees.
At that time, Mostofa Jamil Khan, director (Welfare) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, inquired about the repatriated Bangladeshis. He advised the returnees who were detained at the Ganfouda detention centre to talk to neighbours and relatives about their terrible experiences in Libya.
He said that the returnees can play an important role in creating awareness about illegal migration among people.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the financial support of the IOM, is facilitating the return of illegal Bangladeshi migrants stranded in Libya.
As part of this initiative, a total of 975 Bangladeshis have been brought back to the country from Libya from July 2023, according to the foreign ministry press release.
All irregular Bangladeshi citizens will be repatriated from Libya soon, reads the press release.
