Four chartered flights to transport 555 Bangladeshis from Sudan

Diplomatic Correspondent  :
The government has undertaken an initiative to safely bring back 555 Bangladeshi citizens stranded in war-torn Sudan.

They will be brought back to Dhaka through four chartered flights from Port Sudan to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, and then onward to their final destination in Bangladesh on Thursday or Friday.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam told the journalists in the Foreign Ministry after the ending of the curtain raiser for the event ‘Indian Ocean Conference’ which will be held in Dhaka on May 12 and 13.

He said that the government has made the arrangements that three flights will be operated on Wednesday and another flight on the next day to shift the Bangladeshi citizens in Sudan to Jeddah. “The way we expected to bring back the Bangladeshi citizens from Sudan has been delayed.

After discussions with the Prime Minister, a decision has been made to arrange four chartered flights from Port Sudan to Jeddah Airport at our own expense. The flights will carry 555 Bangladeshis. Today (Wednesday), three flights, and tomorrow (Thursday), another flight will carry them to Jeddah,” he said.

He further said, “We have the option of operating commercial flights from Jeddah to bring them back to Dhaka. However, there is a limitation on the number of seats available. Due to this, we have made arrangements for a special flight as well.”

The State Minister also informed that either on Thursday or Friday, all these Bangladeshis will depart from Jeddah for Dhaka.

Earlier on Monday, the first batch of 136 Bangladeshi nationals who were stranded in Sudan due to internal conflicts returned to the country via Jeddah through a flight operated by Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

Upon their arrival, they were welcomed by Minister of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, Imran Ahmad who also told the returnees that the government would stand by them amid this dire situation by providing assistance including financial support.

Foreign Ministry sources said, on May 2, over 680 out of the 1,500 Bangladeshis in Sudan departed from Khartoum to Port Sudan as part of an evacuation plan facilitated by the Bangladesh Embassy. During their evacuation, they have been temporarily housed at a local Madrasa.

Right now African country Sudan is embroiled in fierce fighting between Sudanese Army and Rapid Support Forces, killing hundreds people there.

Meanwhile, the first batch of the Bangladeshi nationals at the airport on Monday shared their grim experiences they faced in the war-ridden Sudan.

Talking about the situation of the stranded Bangladeshi in Sudan, Shahriar Alam said, “The Bangladeshi citizens are fine there. We have send money to our acting Ambassador there to buy food for stranded Bangladeshis who are now in Port Sudan.”

“It is very natural for some sort of sufferings for the makeshift arrangements. But they formally did not complain,” he said.