Dhaka: Bangladesh has scrapped plans to bring back its 171 nationals stuck in coronavirus-hit China after it failed to arrange a flight following refusal from crew members to fly to the affected country, according to media reports on Sunday.
State-run Biman Airlines’ Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft on February 1 brought back 312 Bangladeshis, including 12 children and three infants in the wake of the deadly coronavirus outbreak in China, that has claimed 811 lives and infected over 37,000 others. “We can’t send any flight. No crew member agrees to go there either. So, we’ve told them [stranded Bangladeshis] to wait,” Bangladesh Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen was quoted as saying by bdnews24.com.
The government has said that the number of Bangladeshis who wanted to return but could not be brought back is 171. Momen also denied reports that some of the stuck Bangladeshi nationals have complained of shortage of food and drinking water due to the lockdown.
He said that the Bangladesh Embassy in Beijing was maintaining regular contact with the stranded Bangladeshis.
According to a report in the Dhaka Tribune, the minister said that the government has spent a lot of time for those intending to return. He said that only a Chinese chartered flight could bring them back, the report said. “Earlier, Chinese authorities agreed to do so, but later declined. We are not able to send any flights there,” he said. (PTI)
