Another 105 Bangladeshi migrants, who were stranded in war-torn Lebanon, returned home amid ongoing Israeli invasion of the country.
The invasion already killed a Bangladeshi.
The expatriates, who had been seeking to return home voluntarily, arrived on Thursday at 11:00pm at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka via Emirates Airlines flight EK-584, said a foreign ministry press release on Friday.
The foreign ministry, expatriates鈥� welfare and overseas employment ministry, Bangladesh embassy in Beirut and the International Organisation for Migration collaborated to facilitate the return of the migrants.
The press release said that all of them returned at the government鈥檚 expense.
Earlier this week, the government also brought back 40 individuals on December 3 and 64 individuals on December 4.
In October 21, Bangladesh started the evacuation of its nationals and on the first flight 54 migrants returned home. As the safety situation in Lebanon did not improve, Bangladesh continued returning its nationals.
Including the latest, so far 96 Bangladeshi citizens returned home on 15 flights from the war-torn Lebanon since the Israel attacked Lebanon in October past year.
Upon arrival at the airport, government officials welcomed the returnees. IOM provided each individual with Tk 5,000 as pocket money, food items, and basic medical assistance.
On November 2, a Bangladeshi was killed in the airstrike and several others were injured in the conflict while several others allegedly remained mission.
The deceased was identified as Mohammad Nizam Uddin, 31, son of late Mohammad Abdul Quddus of Khaira area of Kasba upazila in Brahmanbaria.
Nizam was staying at a coffee shop where the Israeli force attacked. This is the first reported case of death of a Bangladeshi in an Israeli airstrike.
Officials said that a list of some 2,000 Bangladeshis was prepared for repatriation in the first phase.
According to Bangladesh鈥檚 Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training statistics, at least 2,67,364 Bangladeshis migrated to the country since 2002. Of them, 61,786 migrated since 2015.
Migrants estimated that over one lakh Bangladeshi migrants were now working in the West Asian country.