Another batch of Bangladeshis stranded off Tunisia return home

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Bangla Tribune Report
Published : 08:26, Jun 26, 2019 | Updated : 08:27, Jun 26, 2019

Migrants in a dinghy await rescue by the Migrant Offshore Aid Station in the Mediterranean in international waters off the coast of Libya, June 23, 2016. REUTERS FILE PHOTOAnother 15 out of the 64 Bangladeshis stranded off the coast of Tunisia have returned to the country.
The Flight QR 634 of Qatar Airways carrying the migrants landed at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Tuesday (Jun 25) afternoon, said immigration sources.
On Jun 21, the first batch of 17 Bangladeshis returned to the country with the third batch of another 24 are expected to brought back soon, according sources at Bangladesh mission in Libya.
“Those Bangladeshis are being brought back with the help of International Organization for Migration in Tunisia,” Earlier a foreign ministry official told Bangla Tribune.
Tunisia allowed dozens of migrants, mostly from Bangladesh, to disembark after three weeks stranded in the Mediterranean, so that they can return to their home countries.
They were on their way to Europe from Libya when the engine of the boat broke down. An Egyptian boat later rescued the migrants in Tunisian waters last month.
Among the group who set off from Libya, 64 are from Bangladesh while nine are Egyptians, one is Moroccan and one Sudanese, according to the Red Crescent said.
Libya's west coast is a frequent departure point for African migrants hoping to reach Europe by paying human traffickers. But their numbers have dropped after an Italian-led effort to disrupt smuggling networks and support the Libyan coastguard.
At least 65 migrants drowned last month when their boat capsized off Tunisia after setting out from Libya.
In the first four months of 2019, 164 people are known to have died on the route, a smaller number but a higher death rate than in previous years, with one dying for every three who reach European shores, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said.

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