DHAKA, March 17, 2020 (BSS) – A special ferry flight of Biman Bangladesh
Airlines today brought back Bangladeshi Umrah pilgrims, who were stranded in
Saudi Arabia as Riyadh cut off air connection with Bangladesh to prevent
outbreak of the deadly COVID-19.
The national flag carrier’s special flight landed at Hazrat Shahjalal
International Airport from Jeddah carrying 409 Bangladeshi nationals at 4 pm
today, Biman’s Managing Director and CEO Md Mokabbir Hossain told media.
After health screening, he said all the passengers were sent to home
imposing a mandatory 14-day period of self-quarantine on them.
Earlier, four Middle East countries — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman
— suspended all flights with Bangladesh due to the killer coronavirus, which
of late is being described as COVID 19.
Mokabbir said Biman will suspend its flight to Kuala Lumpur from tomorrow
for next two weeks as Malaysia declared to restrict entry of all foreigners
from March 18 to 31.
Biman operates 28 flights to and from Kuala Lumpur per week.