SEPANG, July 23 — A special flight, chartered under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s directive to bring Malaysians in strife-torn Bangladesh home, departed the Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2 at 7.30am.
The AirAsia flight, an Airbus A320 wide-body aircraft capable of housing 350 passengers, is set to arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 9.20am.
Foreign Affairs Ministry South and Central Asia Division undersecretary Datuk Shazelina Zainul Abidin, who is leading the mission, said over 100 Malaysians, including students, have been sheltering at the Malaysian High Commission in Dhaka since yesterday.
“This evacuation mission has been planned since July 12 and is expected to take less than 12 hours.
“Once we received the green light from our high commissioner in Bangladesh, we secured the aircraft, but there was a slight delay as we were asked to wait to ensure our students reached our High Commission in Dhaka,” she told Bernama.
Fifteen personnel from Wisma Putra, the Prime Minister’s Department, the National Security Council and Bernama are involved in the mission.
Yesterday, the prime minister said all Malaysians in Bangladesh will be brought home due to security concerns following escalating tensions there.
He said this decision was made based on the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s monitoring of recent developments in Bangladesh.
— Bernama
