Online Desk: Another 176 Bangladeshis have arrived at Jeddah Airport on Wednesday afternoon from war-torn Sudan by a special flight of Sudan’s Badr Airlines. Bangladesh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dr Mohammad Javed Patwary welcomed the Bangladeshis at the airport. Consul General of Bangladesh in Jeddah Mohammad Nazmul Haque was also present on the occasion.

Two more flights of Badr Airlines are expected to carry 302 Bangladeshi nationals tonight and another 74 people are expected to reach Jeddah on Thursday night, Bangladesh Embassy in Saudi Arabia said in a press release. Fifty-two Bangladeshis from Sudan will leave Jeddah Airport for Dhaka by a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight at 1.00 am (Saudi local time). On Thursday, 130 people will return home by Qatar Airlines and 238 by Biman Bangladesh Airlines from Medina, according to the press release.

Others will be sent home on various flights as soon as possible. The English section of the Jeddah Bangladesh International School has provided provisions for the Bangladeshis’ relaxation, food, and necessary medical care. Earlier on May 8, 136 Bangladeshi nationals from Sudan reached home via Jeddah.

About 1,500 Bangladeshi citizens live in Sudan, who can register to come back to the country, after which they will be brought back in phases, according to the press release. Bangladesh is operating four chartered flights from Sudan, at its own cost, to evacuate the remaining Bangladeshi citizens to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Three of the chartered flights are operating today (May 10, 2023), while the fourth will be operated tomorrow, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam told reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday. He said the government has sent required financial support for providing food to Bangladeshis who are waiting in Sudan. Sudan has plunged into a civil war that has so far claimed the lives of more than 600 people, including civilians, and displaced hundreds of thousands since last month.