The first group of 11 Bangladeshis including eight women and children stranded in Yemen arrived Bangladesh yesterday from Djibouti by an Emirates flight.
Those 11 Bangladeshis reached the Shahjalal International Airport at 5:30pm yesterday, an SMS from State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam confirmed the news of their arrival.
Later, a Foreign Ministry press release said, Additional Foreign Secretary Mizanur Rahman received them at the airport. Senior officials of the ministry were also present on the occasion.
As of Friday, 304 Bangladeshi nationals have been evacuated from Yemen to Djibouti. Of of them, 272 were rescued by Indian Naval Ship (INS) from Hodeida and 20 have been evacuated by Air India from Sanaa.
“The remaining 287 are currently staying in Djibouti under the arrangement of the Foreign Ministry,” it said.
The Foreign Ministry has set up a Repatriation Control Room in Djibouti led by the Bangladesh ambassador in Kuwait to conduct the repatriation process.
It is expected that more Bangladeshis will be evacuated from Yemen to Djibouti for ultimate repatriation to Bangladesh soon.
The whole repatriation operation is being carried out under the direct supervision of Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali, the release added.
An official from Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeking anonymity said some 553 Bangladesh nationals registered their names for coming back home from Yemen up to April 9.
According to the Foreign Ministry, some 1500-3000 Bangladeshi nationals are living in Yemen, and all of them are not interested to come back home.
However, the Bangladeshis living there claimed that the number of Bangladeshi nationals there could be as many as 10,000.
Earlier on April 7, Bangladesh along with 25 countries sought India’s assistance to evacuate its citizens from strife-hit Yemen.
Countries that have sought India’s assistance in evacuating its nationals from the war-ravaged Yemen, includes USA, France, Germany, Sweden, Singapore, Malaysia, Ireland, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Iraq, among others.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin shared the information on micro-blogging site Twitter on Tuesday.
“Requests for Indian assistance in evacuation from Yemen keeps growing. On last count 26 requests received,” he posted.
India on Friday stepped up its evacuation. At least 1,052 Indians, including a newborn baby, have been evacuated from Yemen till Thursday. Yemen has been engulfed in strife as Shia Houthi rebels continued their advance against exiled president Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s loyalists who are being supported by Saudi Arabia-led air strikes.
