IOM flies home another 160 Bangladeshi workers from Libya

The International Organization for Migration has brought back another 160 migrant workers from Libya, who were stranded in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic and long-standing conflicts.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 5 May 2021, 08:17 AM
Updated : 5 May 2021, 08:17 AM

A special flight of Buraq Air carrying the workers reached Shahjalal International Airport on Wednesday morning, the foreign ministry said in a notice.

The workers were stuck in the country’s eastern cities, including Libya's second-largest city, Benghazi. They left for Dhaka from the Benghazi airport on Tuesday.

The body of a Bangladeshi national who died in Libya was flown back home on the same flight.

The returnees underwent health check-ups at the airport, the foreign ministry said. All of them have returned home voluntarily. Among them, nine were locked in a Libyan detention centre for being ill and seven others were detained for contracting the hepatitis B virus.

A significant number of the returnees had been working in Libya for the last 7 to 12 years. However, they were longing to return to Bangladesh due to the ongoing situation in Libya, the lack of adequate work opportunities and the current socio-economic situation, including the devaluation of the currency.

The workers were previously unable to return home as there were no international flights from Libya. Now, the Bangladeshi government, with the help of IOM, is gradually bringing back migrants trapped in the country.

The foreign ministry said it was the ninth flight to bring back workers stranded in Libya. A total of 1,379 people have been brought back on these flights so far.