247 Stranded Bangladeshis to Return Home from USA Sunday

A special flight with 247 Bangladeshi citizens, stuck in the USA amid coronavirus pandemic, will arrive here early on Sunday.

Passengers include mostly Bangladeshi students studying at various colleges and universities in the USA, Bangladeshi people traveling to America on tourist and business visas, and some government and non-government officials.

The flight, scheduled to depart for Bangladesh from Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) on Friday, will land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 4 a.m. local time on Sunday, the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington said.

On May 4, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs chartered the flight of Qatar Airlines to bring home the stranded Bangladeshis in the USA.

On March 30, the Embassy of Bangladesh, D.C. And the two Consulates General in New York and Los Angeles, under the direction of the Foreign Ministry, circulated a notice through their websites seeking information from Bangladeshis who had been stranded in the USA in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

A large number of stranded Bangladeshi citizens provided their information by email to Bangladesh Missions from March 30 to April 30 showing interest to return to Bangladesh by a special charter flight at their own expenses. 

They also requested the Bangladesh government through the Bangladesh Missions to facilitate their return by a special flight.

The sophisticated chartered airbus A 350-900 of Qatar Airlines is scheduled to arrive at Doha International Airport at 7 pm on May 16.

After a one-hour technical stopover at Doha airport, the plane will leave Doha at 8 pm (local time). 

During the stopover, all passengers will have to stay on the aircraft, the Bangladesh Embassy in Washington said.

On arrival at Dhaka Airport, passengers will have to submit health declaration forms to Bangladesh Immigration officials.

Bangladesh embassy in Washington D.C. gave the forms to the Qatar airlines for distribution among the passengers.

All the passengers will have to carry Covid-19 symptom-free medical certificates. 

The embassy helped the passengers who could not collect the medical certificates in cooperation with a pool of Bangladeshi doctors here.

Source: UNB