Yesterday, 337 Bangladeshi citizens who were evacuated from Yemen returned to the country from Kochi port in Kerala, India and 136 more are scheduled to arrive today.
After an Indian naval ship evacuated them from Yemen, the Bangladeshis were taken to the African country of Djibouti and then were brought to Kerala on Indian passenger ships on Saturday.
Early yesterday, two Biman Bangladesh Airlines flights carried them to Dhaka.
The first flight, carrying 190 of the evacuees, landed at Dhaka Airport around 4:30am and the second flight carrying the remainder landed around 5am.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, who received the evacuees at the airport, said all of them were in safe condition.
“Indian ships have evacuated 508 Bangladeshis from Yemen so far,” he added.
The 136 Bangladeshis include five women and four children, and will return today via special flights of Biman, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
They were evacuated from Hodeida city of Yemen, and taken to Djibouti on April 16.
The Bangladeshi evacuees are being taken to a shelter there, arranged by the the Bangladeshi diplomats stationed in Djibouti, led by Ambassador Maj Gen Mohammad Ashab Uddin, to ensure safe return home for the Bangladeshi citizens.
War-torn Yemen became a battleground with the rise of Shia Houthis who took over the capital of Sanaa six months ago, and ousted President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
After Saudi Arabia launched air strikes in Yemen, the situation became worse.
India had carried out massive evacuation operation – not only for its own citizens, but for other nationals as well – in Yemen for a month, before calling it off last week.
