Govt to bring back stranded tourists

The government stepped in Saturday to bring back the tourists stranded in Bangladesh’s largest sandy sea beach Cox’s Bazar due to a road blockade by the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) Chairman M Maksudul Hasan Khan told bdnews24.com they had arranged three extra flights that would carry nearly 200 passengers back to Dhaka Saturday night.

“Our estimate suggests about 1,000 people are stranded in Cox’s Bazar,” he said adding that a ship would bring back more than 300 tourists from Cox's Bazar to Chittagong Sunday morning.

Khan said they were planning to reach the rest of tourists to Chittagong or Dhaka by bus under police protection.

They have also requested the Hotel and Motel Owners Association of Cox’s Bazar to provide accommodation and food to stranded tourists ‘free of cost or at discounted prices’.

The Jamaat-e-Islami has been running riot across Bangladesh since Feb 28 when the International Crimes Tribunal-1 handed down death sentence to party stalwart Delwar Hossain Sayedee for his crimes against humanity including rape and murder during the 1971 Liberation war.

The party has called 48-hour shutdown starting Sunday.