Ershad also flew Biman plane from Singapore that faced glitches

Prime minister’s Special Envoy HM Ershad was also on board the Biman Bangladesh Airlines plane which took off from Singapore and faced two bouts of technical difficulties on its way back to Dhaka.

The Jatiya Party chairman was accompanied by his party’s Secretary General Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu on the trip.

“What can I say, we barely made it back alive,” Bablu said.

According to the airlines, the A310 Airbus landed in Singapore Changi Airport a little after takeoff around 4pm on Saturday due to technical difficulties.

The plane started for Dhaka in the evening after the glitches were fixed.

However, half an hour from its landing in Dhaka, the pilot was notified of a fire in one of its engines and alerted the control tower to prepare for an emergency landing, the official statement said. 

“The plane itself was 30 years old. When it was fixed the first time, we thought everything was fine,” Bablu remembered.

“But when the second error warning came, everyone panicked. All the passengers were frightened, the children were crying.

“Sir [Ershad] and I were telling them to calm down,” said.

Ershad’s Press Secretary Sunil Shuvo Roy told bdnews24.com: “Sir goes to Singapore once in a while for medical check-up. Sir and the party secretary general left Dhaka for Singapore some seven days back.”

The former military strongman, in a programme marking his 86th birthday on Mar 20, had asked God to add six years, which he spent in prison, to his life.