262 Bangladeshis return home from Sudan

A total of 262 Bangladeshi returned from war-torn Sudan to Dhaka via Saudi Arabia today.

239 people arrived from Medina via Biman Bangladesh flight BG338 at 08:40am and 23 people arrived from Jeddah via BG136 at 12:15pm on Friday (12 May), said a press release.

Dr Ahmed Munirus Saleheen, senior secretary, Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment, Bangladesh; Sarah Lou Ysmael Arriola, International Organisation for Migration (IOM regional director for Asia and the Pacific; Abdusattor Esoev, chief of mission, IOM Bangladesh received the returnees at the airport.

Earlier on Thursday, a total of 51 Bangladeshi nationals evacuated from Sudan returned home from Jeddah Airport on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight.

On 8 May, Biman Bangladesh Airlines brought back 136 Bangladeshi nationals - escaping Sudan - from Jeddah.

The Bangladeshi nationals from conflict-ridden Sudan took temporary shelter in Jeddah with the help of the Bangladesh Embassy and Saudi authorities.

Previously, the Bangladesh Embassy in Sudan evacuated over 700 Bangladeshis from the capital Khartoum to Port Sudan on Tuesday (2 May). They were taken there by a total of 13 buses in two phases.

Sudan plunged into a civil war last month that has so far claimed the lives of more than 600 people, including civilians, and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Countries around the world are scrambling vessels and aeroplanes to evacuate their citizens from Sudan.