160 stranded Bangladeshi migrants return home from Libya

At least 160 Bangladeshi migrants who were stranded in Libya's eastern cities due to the Covid-19 pandemic and longstanding instability in the war-hit African country returned home on Wednesday. 

The International Organisation for Migration assisted Bangladesh to make the repatriation process of these migrants easier.   

According to a media statement issued by the foreign ministry of Bangladesh, a chartered flight with these stranded Bangladeshis landed on the ground of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka in the morning.

Bangladeshi migrants in Libya waiting to return home on a chartered flight of Buraq Air from Benghazi Airport on 4 May. Photo: Courtesy

The body of a Bangladeshi who died in Libya was also brought back to the country on the same aircraft. 

After their arrival, they all underwent necessary physical checks at the airport. These migrants have returned to Bangladesh voluntarily and some were ill among them, the media statement read. 

Due to the unstable socio-economic situation, lack of employment, and devaluation of the Libyan Dinar, these Bangladeshi migrants, who had been working in the country for seven-eight years or more, were waiting to return to their home country for a long time. 

But they could not return as no international flight is being operated from Libya currently.

Since the pandemic hit globally, Bangladesh so far brought back 1,379 of its nationals from Libya on nine chartered flights in assistance with the International Organisation for Migration, the media statement read.