A special flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines brought back a total of 386 Bangladeshi nationals that who were stranded in Saudi Arabia amid the ongoing shutdown of flights due to the Covid-19 pandemic on Sunday night.
Tahera Khandaker, deputy general manager (PR) of the national flag carrier, said the special flight landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 9:35 pm Sunday.
Earlier, Bangladesh Embassy in Riyadh said a Boeing 777 of Biman took off with the 386 onboard from King Khalid International Airport at 11:40 am (local time).
They were returning home thanks to an initiative of Bangladesh Embassy with the help of Saudi Foreign Ministry, it said, adding that another flight with some more Bangladeshis who faced a similar plight, is scheduled to leave Jeddah for Dhaka on July 1.
The procedure to bring back Bangladeshi nationals was begun on March 11. A total of 2500 Bangladeshis expressed their interest to return home and submitted applications to the Embassy through its Website.
Later, the authorities made a list on a priority basis.
Bangladeshi Ambassador in Saudi Arabia Golam Masih said there are around 2.1 million Bangladeshi nationals in Saudi Arabia. Many of them want to return home on an emergency basis due to various reasons.
“We’ve taken the initiative considering interests of all. We’re working to ensure all kinds of facilities for overseas Bangladeshis,” he added.
