Flight to bring Malaysians from Bangladesh departed this morning

KUALA LUMPUR: A special flight, directed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, to bring Malaysians back from Bangladesh following the tensions in that country, departed at 7:30 a.m. today from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Terminal 2.

According to Bernama, the AirAsia flight, using an Airbus A320 wide-body aircraft capable of carrying 350 passengers, is expected to arrive at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka, at 9:20 a.m. local time.

Datuk Dr. Shazelina Zainul Abidin, Secretary of the South Asia and Central Asia Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who is leading the mission, stated that more than 100 Malaysians, including students, have been sheltered at the Malaysian High Commission in Dhaka since yesterday.

“This mission was actually planned since July 12, and its execution took the shortest time, less than 12 hours.

“Once we received the ‘green light’ from our High Commissioner in Bangladesh, we arranged for the flight. However, there was a slight delay and it could not be started yesterday as we were asked to wait to ensure our students arrived safely at our High Commission in Dhaka,” she told Bernama.

Fifteen personnel from Wisma Putra, the Prime Minister’s Department, the National Security Council, and the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) were involved in the mission.

Bernama’s representative on the mission was Assistant Editor (General News Services) Nik Nurfaqih Nik Wil, along with photographer Muhammad Izzuddin Abd Radzak.

Yesterday, during the launch of the National Tax Conference 2024, Anwar was reported to have said that the government decided to bring Malaysian students from Bangladesh due to prioritizing their safety, following escalating tensions in the country.

He said this decision was made after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs monitored the latest developments in Bangladesh.