The British government said it will provide three emergency evacuation flights to repatriate 500 Bangladeshis stranded in Tunisia.
Three commercial charter planes were to take the Bangladeshis home from Djerba airport later yesterday, the British government said.
“I have seen for myself the scale of the humanitarian situation on the Libyan border with Tunisia,” said Andrew Mitchell, the International Development Secretary.
“I vowed that we would do everything possible to give those stranded shelter and get them back home as quickly as possible,” Andrew Mitchel added.
According to foreign ministry sources, over 15,000 Bangladeshi citizens who fled Libya have been stranded in Tunisia.
Reports from Tunisia said the British minister, during his visit to the transit camp just beyond the border area near Rad Ajdir on Friday, met some of the 191,693 displaced migrant workers, including many from Bangladesh.
Following his visit, the British government decided to provide three commercial charter planes to fly 500 Bangladeshis home. The planes were due to leave Tunisia’s Djerba airport for Dhaka yesterday.
Andrew Mitchell said, “We have already evacuated more than 6,000 Egyptians and this early action has so far prevented a humanitarian crisis. But Britain is not complacent, that is why we are acting now to get 500 Bangladeshis home safely.
“Unless we continue to relieve the numbers in border camps, there is still a real danger, the situation will deteriorate rapidly. We are prepared for further surges of people who may be on the other side of the border.
“But the rest of the world must join Britain in giving their assistance to help transport them back home to restart their lives.”
Courtesy of The Daily Star
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