Flood-hit Sylhet MAG Osmani Airport to resume services after two more days

Authorities have drained floodwaters from the MAG Osmani International Airport in Sylhet but it will take two more days to clear the runway and test the safety equipment.

“We’re hoping to resume flight operations after two days,” the airport’s management chief Abdul Gani said on Monday.

“The lights to signal aircraft to land or take off are being tested. Besides rainwater reached near the runway. We’ve to clear and assess it.”

The wires connecting the signals and other lights travel underground. Airport authorities are checking if floodwater damaged the wires.

On Jun 17, authorities closed the airport due to the devastating flooding, which was worsened by persistent rain and mountain runoff.

Several planes operate in the airport daily and travel mostly from Sylhet to and from Dhaka and London.

The flooding, the third of this season, caused water to enter the airport and the railway station in Sylhet.

The power connection has also been disrupted after the electricity centre was flooded.

Educational institutions have been closed indefinitely after incessant rainfall in India’s Assam and Meghalaya brought misery to the people of northeast Bangladesh.