153 stranded Bangladeshis to return from London

The government today is bringing back 153 stranded Bangladeshi nationals from London by a special chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh airlines due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, a press release issued by the Bangladesh High Commission in London read the Bangladesh government special chartered flight, BG 4106, left London Heathrow Airport for Dhaka at 10:30 am local time today carrying Bangladeshis. The plane will arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 00:30 am on Sunday, Bangladesh time.

Bangladesh High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Saeed Muna Tasneem bade farewell to the returning passengers at Heathrow Airport. Expressing deep gratitude to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for arranging this special flight and said "the Honorable Prime Minister directed the embassies to take necessary steps to repatriate Bangladeshis stranded in different countries due to [the novel] coronavirus. Accordingly, the Bangladesh High Commission has arranged for the repatriation of Bangladeshis stranded in the UK through two repatriation flights to London."

The High Commissioner thanked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh and Biman Bangladesh Airlines for this and said, "This special flight of Bangladesh Biman was originally planned to come to Rome with Bangladeshi passengers living in Italy and return to Dhaka from there." 

However, at the special request of the London Mission, the Bangladesh government re-routed the plane and directed it to go to Dhaka via London Heathrow with the Bangladeshis stranded in the UK, she added.

The High Commissioner thanked the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the UK Home Office, the UK Border Agency and the Heathrow Airport Authority for their cooperation in assisting the repatriated Bangladeshis to return home safely. She said the London Mission had successfully arranged two repatriation flights to repatriate stranded Bangladeshis in the midst of the terrible Covid-19 pandemic and even during the shutdown.

At the same time, the mission is working to address the various problems caused by the pandemic plus continue to provide all possible services through the 24-hour consular hotline and the High Commission's Emergency Covid Helpline. 

Following this, in July, the Bangladesh High Commission, London will celebrate and host a Mujib Centenary Consular and Welfare Services Party.

On May 10, at the initiative of the Bangladesh High Commission and at the direction of the Government of Bangladesh, the first hundred stranded Bangladeshis – in a special plane chartered by the Bangladesh Air Force Welfare Trust – returned to Bangladesh from the United Kingdom.