UNB, Dhaka :
Fifteen Bangladeshi nationals, who got stranded at Erbil International Airport of trouble-torn Iraq, returned home on Saturday.
Deputy Secretary of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry Bodiar Rahman received the Bangladeshis when they arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport by an Air Arabia flight.
Each of the returnee was given Tk 2000 in cash so that they can go back to their respective village from the airport.
This was the first batch who returned from Iraq under government’s arrangement since the unrest began in the country. Earlier, over 130 Bangladeshis returned home from Iraq on their own initiatives.
Some of the returnees claimed that they were held captive by rebels in Iraq city of Tikrit for 24 days till July 4. Authorities in Iraq helped the 15 Bangladesh nationals to travel from Mosul city to Erbil airport in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
Bangladesh embassies in Iraq and Turkey arranged safe stay of the 15 Bangladesh nationals at the Erbil airport and their repatriation.
