337 Bangladeshis return from Yemen safely.

A total of 337 Bangladeshis, evacuated from war-ravaged Yemen, returned home safely from Kerala, India by Bangladesh Biman special flights early Sunday. Two special Biman flights carrying the Bangladeshis, including 14 women and 13 children, landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the capital before dawn. The state minister for foreign affairs M Shahriar Alam received the Bangladeshis at the airport. Additional foreign secretary Mizanur Rahman, director general (consular & welfare) and director general (external publicity) were also present at the airport. ‘We greeted 190 of them who safely returned home from Yemen in the first flight at 4:30 am and received 147 who came in second flight.  By the grace of almighty Allah, they all are safe and sound,’ Shahriar wrote on his facebook page.

These 337 Bangladesh nationals were evacuated from the cities of Saana, Hodeida and Aden by Indian naval ships and brought to Kochi seaport in Kerala, India by two Indian passenger ships for their eventual repatriation to Bangladesh. Among them, 272 were on board in one Ship, ‘MV Corals’, and 65 were in another ship, ‘MV Kavaratti’, according to the foreign ministry. They were received by urban development minister of Kerala and the officials from the Bangladesh high commission in New Delhi and deputy high commission in Mumbai at the Kochi seaport. The foreign ministry has been conducting repatriation of Bangladeshis stranded in the war-torn Yemen at the directives of prime minister Sheikh Hasina and under the direct supervision of foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali. Another batch of 136 Bangladeshi nationals, including five women and five children who were evacuated from Hodeida,

Yemen on April 15 by INS Sumitra and reached Djibouti on April 16, were now awaiting their final repatriation to Bangladesh. The foreign ministry has arranged their accommodation, food and other logistics during their stay in Djibouti. They would stay there till their departure for Bangladesh by a Bangladesh Biman special flight scheduled on April 21 arranged by the foreign ministry. To coordinate and monitor the whole repatriation process, the foreign ministry set up a ‘Repatriation Control Room’ in Djibouti headed by Bangladesh ambassador in Kuwait Major General Mohammad Ashab Uddin and a ‘Repatriation Coordination Cell’ at the foreign ministry led by additional foreign secretary Mizanur Rahman. Earlier, 26 Bangladesh nationals returned home from Yemen in three groups.

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