164 stranded Bangladeshis return home

The first batch of 164 Bangladeshis who were stranded in India for over a month, came home yesterday.

A special charter flight of US-Bangla Airlines carrying them landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 3:48pm from Chennai, Kamrul Islam, a general manager of the airlines, told The Daily Star.

All were going through health screening at the airport, an official at the airport health desk told this correspondent at 8pm.

US-Bangla is scheduled to operate five more special flights till April 25 from Kolkata and Chennai to bring back other Bangladeshis.

The move came following understanding between the two governments, as several thousand Bangladeshis are stranded in India for over a month. Most of them went there for treatment.