PUTRAJAYA: An evacuation plan has been activated to bring home Malaysian citizens, including 124 students in Bangladesh today, says Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
He said a special AirAsia flight using an A330 aircraft is expected to arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 10am to repatriate our citizens.
Mohamad said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, after a morning meeting, approved expediting plans to repatriate Malaysians from Bangladesh.
“The Foreign Ministry has analysed the situation in Bangladesh and found that this issue (conflict) will not be resolved soon.
“Therefore, our citizens will return home,” he told a press conference.
He said the initial plan was to charter a plane with a capacity of 250 passengers, but it was decided that AirAsia would send an Airbus A330 wide-body aircraft to cater for last-minute additional passengers.
“There are also Malaysian pilots working in Bangladesh who have requested to return to Malaysia,” he said, according to Bernama.
Earlier, Mohamad held a meeting with representatives of parents of Malaysian students in Bangladesh, assuring them their children would be brought home.
Reassurance: Mohamad (third from right) speaking with representatives of parents of Malaysian students in Bangladesh during a meeting at Wisma Putra, Putrajaya. — Bernama
He said parents need not panic or worry about their children in Bangladesh as they were safe.
However, he said one student at Chittagong Medical College would not be returning home as the college is about 300km from Dhaka.
The Malaysian High Commission in Dhaka said the student’s welfare would be taken care of.
Mohamad said officers stationed at the High Commission would remain in Dhaka and only their families would be evacuated.
Thousands of students in Bangladesh have been demonstrating since July 1 after a lower court reinstated quotas for public sector jobs that were abolished in 2018.
The government was reported to have imposed a nationwide curfew and deployed the military after clashes between protesters and police.
