136 Bangladeshis return home from war-torn Sudan

A total of 136 Bangladeshis reached Dhaka from war-torn Sudan on Monday morning.

A Bangladesh Airlines flight carrying them left Jeddah Airport in Saudi Arabia at 1am and landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 10:30am.  

They were received by the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmed.

Earlier on Sunday, 136 Bangladeshis were taken to Jeddah by three Saudi military planes. The Bangladesh ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dr Mohammad Javed Patwary welcomed them at Jeddah Airport. Consul General of Bangladesh Consulate in Jeddah Mohammad Nazmul Haque was also present during this time.

According to source, there are around 1,500 Bangladeshis stuck in Sudan, of whom 700 expressed their willingness to return home. 675 out of 700 Bangladeshis were brought to Port Sudan from Khartoum on May 3. Of them, 136 people including women and children were taken to Jeddah on three Saudi flights.

At least 481 civilians were killed in Khartoum clashes that erupted in mid-April between the military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The number of the wounded among civilians has jumped to more than 2560.