Malaysia sending plane to evacuate citizens from Bangladesh amid deadly riots
- Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said citizens would be airlifted following pleas from the parents of students stuck in the South Asian nation
After meeting the parents of the affected students at his office on Monday, Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said that all Malaysians in Bangladesh would be evacuated.
“We are making arrangements with the Bangladesh government to ensure Malaysians are given security to go to the High Commissioner building tonight safely and the airport tomorrow,” Hasan told the press after the meeting, adding that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had “given his approval and blessing for us to move ahead with this evacuation plan”.
According to Hasan, 124 Malaysian students in Bangladeshi universities remain trapped in the capital city of Dhaka and neighbouring Mymensingh.
The minister said they were getting a widebody plane with a capacity of 350 to make room for extra evacuees since there are more Malaysians not registered with the embassy.
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Several students killed during protests against civil service job quotas in Bangladesh
Hasan said the plane would reach Dhaka’s Shahjalal International Airport at 10am on Tuesday to ferry the Malaysian citizens back to Kuala Lumpur.