302 Bangladeshis return, 494 foreigners leave for UK, Canada

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DHAKA, May 10, 2020 (BSS) – A total of 302 stranded Bangladeshi returned
home today from India and South Korea while 494 foreigners left here for
Canada and the UK by separate chartered flights amid flight suspension due to
COVID-19 pandemic.

Of the repatriated Bangladeshis, 240 arrived from India – 74 from Kolkata
by Biman Bangladesh Airlines and 166 from Chennai by US-Bangla Airlines –
while a chartered flight of Korean Air brought back 62 Bangladeshis from
South Korea at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) here, airport
sources said.

“A Korean Air chartered flight landed at HSIA from South Korea at 6:40 pm
today carrying 62 Bangladeshi nationals” HSIA director group captain Touhid-
ul Ahsan told BSS this evening.

He said the Korean Air aircraft is scheduled to leave here tomorrow
morning for Seoul carrying South Korean nationals who have been stuck here
since outbreak of the coronavirus.

Biman’s Deputy General Manager (PR) Tahera Khondokar told media that the
special flight of the national flag carrier landed at HSIA from Kolkata at
3:50 pm bringing back 74 Bangladeshi nationals.

Earlier, the US-Bangla airlines landed at HSIA from Chennai by carrying
164 adults and 2 infants at 2:45 pm, airlines official sources confirmed.

As per the government decision, all the returnee Bangladeshis would have
to be sent to a 14-day institutional quarantine under the management of the
Armed Forces Division (AFD) if they failed to show medical certificate at the
airport on their arrival here.

Apart from today’s flights, five more chartered flights have been planned
to operate from New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai to Dhaka under the
ongoing third phase repatriation flight operation from India, facilitated by
the government and Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines will operate flights from Mumbai on May 12, from
Bangalore on May 13 and from New Delhi on May 14 while US-Bangla Airlines
will operate two more special flights from Chennai on May 13 and 14, a
circular of Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi said earlier.

Meanwhile, a total of 340 Canadian citizens and permanent residents left
HSIA for Toronto by a chartered aircraft of Qatar Airways, Canadian High
Commission here said.

This is the third special flight, arranged by the Canadian government in
coordination with Canadian High Commission in Dhaka. It took back home
Canadians who have been stuck here due to outbreak of the pandemic.

“We thank the Government of Bangladesh and Qatar Airways for their
support,” Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Benoit Prefontaine said in
a message after departure of the flight while Canada is considering the
fourth and final special flights from Dhaka to Toronto on 18 May 2020.

Earlier, 154 passengers, mostly British citizens, left here for the UK at
12.09 pm by a Biman Bangladesh Airlines chartered flight that is schedule to
bring back stranded Bangladeshi nationals from Britain tomorrow.

More than 130 Bangladeshi students who were stranded in the United Kingdom
since the suspension of international flights between Dhaka and London in the
wake of the coronavirus pandemic are scheduled to return home by this flight,
said a press release issued by Bangladesh High Commission in the UK today.

The flight is scheduled to land at HSIA at 09:30 am Dhaka time on Monday.

Bangladesh so far repatriated stranded Bangladeshis from India, Australia,
Thailand, Singapore and Myanmar while more chartered flights have also been
planned to bring back Bangladesh nationals from the USA and Malaysia soon.

On May 5, Bangladesh extended the ongoing ban on flight operation for the
fifth consecutive time till May 16 to and from all European countries and the
nations including India that restricted the entry of Bangladeshis to their
territories as well as on all domestic routes over the coronavirus scare.

Other countries, including the USA, the UK, Canada, Turkey, Australia,
Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Bhutan, Myanmar and different European countries
so far operated several special chartered flights amid the flight suspension
to repatriate their citizens from here.