294 Australians to leave Dhaka for Melbourne tonight
Covid-19 in Bangladesh
A total of294 Australian citizens and permanent residents will leave Dhaka for Melbourne tonight by a chartered flight of Sri Lankan Airlines.
The flight is scheduled to leave the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at around 8 pm, an airport official told The Business Standard.
The Australian High Commission in Dhaka instructed passengers to be present at the airport by 3:45 pm. The flight has can transport 294 passengers, and the first 339 people who expressed interest in returning to Australia have received emails from the high commission.
All other current and future registrants will be placed on a waiting list in case there are any last-minute cancellations.
Earlier, the Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Jeremy Bruer announced that a non-scheduled commercial flight had been arranged through Sri Lankan Airlines to bring Australians home from Bangladesh.
"While we will endeavour to provide enough seats for everyone who wishes to return home, those who have registered already will be prioritised," said the high commissioner.
Bruer strongly encouraged Australian citizens in Bangladesh to make use of this opportunity to depart, as they may not be in a position to organise a further non-scheduled flight.
In late March, the Bangladesh government briefed foreign envoys that it would allow foreign nationals living here to leave the country by chartered flights as commercial flights were suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Following the announcement, 919 stranded Americans were evacuated by the US Embassy from Bangladesh on three separate chartered flights of Qatar Airways.
The Japanese government evacuated 327 of its nationals from Dhaka on April 2 through a chartered flight of Biman Bangladesh.
On March 26, 354 Malaysian and Bhutanese citizens left Dhaka on three separate flights. Of them, two Drukair flights carried 124 Bhutanese nationals and 230 Malaysians went by a Malaysia Airlines flight.
A total of 123 citizens of European Union (EU) countries left Dhaka for Frankfurt, Germany on April 10 by a special chartered flight of German Condor Airlines.
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