221 more Bangladeshis return home from India on special Biman flights

221 Bangladeshi nationals returned home from India today on two special flights of Biman Bangladesh Airlines after being stranded in the neighbouring country for more than one and half months due to flight suspension amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

Of them, 162 Bangladeshis returned from Mumbai while 59 from Kolkata.

Carrying the 162 passengers from Mumbai, a special flight of the national flag carrier landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 7:00pm, Tahera Khandaker, deputy general manager (public relations) of Biman, told The Daily Star.

Earlier today, a chartered flight of Biman carrying 59 Bangladeshi citizens from Kolkata landed at HSIA at 3:40pm Tahera Khandaker said.

As per the government's decision, all returnee Bangladeshis are scheduled to remain in 14-day institutional quarantine if they fail to show medical certificates upon arrival at the airport that they have been tested negative for Covid-19.

From April 20 till today, around 1,750 Bangladeshi nationals, most of whom went to India for medical treatment, were brought back from the neighboring country on 12 chartered flights of US-Bangla Airlines and Biman, sources at HSIA said.

Of the 12 special flights, US-Bangla Airlines operated eight while Biman operated four.

The Bangladesh High Commission in India earlier said they have kept their efforts on to facilitate the return of more Bangladeshis who are still stranded in India.

Biman is scheduled to operate one more special flight on May 5 from Delhi to bring back stranded Bangladeshis, Tahera Khandaker said.