Nine UK-returnees of the same family disappeared from a Sylhet hotel that has been converted to an institutional quarantine centre on Sunday.
The disappeared immigrants are Abdul Malik, 46, Runa Akter, 44; Tamima Akter, 9; Taiyeba Akter, 11; Rubaba Akter, 43, Rahima Begum, 43; Radia Akter, 11; Sayema Begum, 18 and Tahmid Chowdhury, 4.
The hotel authorities informed that around 2pm on Sunday, it was discovered that the 9 individuals had ‘disappeared’ from the hotel’s two rooms that they were occupying (nos. 203 and 603).
When contacted over the phone, they said they had gone home to visit their dying family member, according to Britannia Hotel authorities.
They said they would return to the hotel – but till filing of this report on Sunday night they have not done so.
Additional Deputy Commissioner (Media) of Sylhet Metropolitan Police BM Ashrafullah Taher said they are investigating how the immigrants could have fled when 3 police members were on duty at the hotel.
Action will be taken if any negligence is found on the part of police or the hotel authority, the ADC said.
Britannia Hotel manager Kawsar Khan said the 9 immigrants who fled started their quarantine at the hotel on March 18, and it was supposed to end on March 26 after completion of necessary tests.
On March 18, 152 UK returnees landed at the Sylhet Osmani International Airport by BG-202 flight of Biman. Of them, 147 were sent to 10 residential hotels in Sylhet following the government’s directive and under the supervision of army officers and police. Thirty-five were sent to the Britannia Hotel in the city's Ambarkhan area.
As it has emerged that the highly contagious UK variant of Coronavirus is already here, the government made institutional quarantine mandatory for all UK returnees from January1, 2020. But the incident shows the trouble they have been facing in ensuring.
