A special chartered flight carrying 172 undocumented Bangladeshi nationals repatriated voluntarily from Misrata, Libya, landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka during the early hours of Thursday, 29 October. The charter aircraft, operated by Buraq Air under flight number UZ-222, arrived at 4:51 am local time, bringing home migrants who had been stranded under precarious conditions in North Africa.
The repatriation operation was conducted as a collaborative effort involving the Bangladesh Embassy in Tripoli, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Representatives from both ministries and IOM officials were present at the airport to receive the returning citizens upon their arrival.
According to a press statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday, a vast majority of the returnees had travelled to Libya after being lured by human traffickers promising transit into European nations via dangerous maritime routes across the Mediterranean Sea. Upon reaching North Africa, many of these migrants fell victim to abduction, extortion, physical abuse, and prolonged detention by armed groups and trafficking syndicates operating along coastal smuggling hubs.
To assist with their immediate reintegration and logistics, the IOM provided each returnee with financial assistance to cover onward domestic travel expenses, along with basic food supplies, preliminary medical evaluations, and temporary shelter arrangements where required.
In light of the harrowing ordeals described by the returnees, the foreign ministry urged the individuals to share their firsthand experiences within their local communities. Official authorities believe that public dissemination of these accounts will raise grassroots awareness regarding the severe hazards associated with illegal migration channels and dissuade prospective migrants from relying on unauthorized recruitment brokers.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that diplomatic missions in Tripoli, in coordination with national ministries and the IOM, are continuing joint operations to locate, secure, and safely evacuate other Bangladeshi nationals currently held in various Libyan detention facilities.
