A second charted flight carrying maximum 170 Bangladeshis are scheduled to leave Tripoli for Dhaka on Tuesday, Bangladesh Ambassador to Libya Sk Sekander Ali told Dhaka Tribune on Sunday.
The first flight flew 153 Bangladeshis back home from Benghazi on September 8, he said.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is bearing the cost of the repatriation of the Bangladeshis, while the Bangladesh embassy in Tripoli is facilitating, he added.
“The returnees are the Bangladeshis who have registered with our embassy to voluntarily return home. There are also people who were rescued from the sea while they were trying to make their way to Europe,” Ambassador Ali said.
“Having had requests from many Bangladeshis to send them home, we requested the IOM to undertake the task,” he said.
“We are working on a list of 170 people. Let’s see how many can fly,” he added.
The IOM is in charge of interviewing and conducting health checkup of the returnees, he said.
To a question, Ali said that perhaps one more such flight will be operated in the coming days.
Situation in Libya better now than July
Ambassador Ali also said that the situation in war-torn Libya is now much better than it was in July.
“I would not say it is still safe. But, things are much better now than July,” he said.
From 20,000 to 25,000 Bangladeshis are currently living in Libya, said Ali.
The Bangladeshis living in Libya with valid documents are safe as they receive full support from their Libyan sponsors, he said.