Three survivors return home

Three Bangladeshis who survived a boat capsize in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Tunisia on May 9 returned home yesterday.

A Turkish Airlines plane carrying them reached Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 5:38am, said Tanveer Hossain, assistant director of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training.

The three are Mahfuz Ahmmad, Billal Ahmmad and Bahadur.

“Their identities were being verified through local police stations of the survivors,” Tanveer told The Daily Star over phone.

At least 40 Bangladeshi migrants died after a boat carrying 80 people capsized in the Mediterranean Sea. Tunisian fishermen and coastguard rescued them the next morning, around nine hours after the capsize.  

Eleven more Bangladeshi survivors now in Tunisian Red Crescent camp, three of them will be repatriated soon, ASM Ashraful Islam, labour counsellor of Bangladesh embassy in Libya, told this correspondent by phone.

Meanwhile, Libyan coastguard on Thursday rescued 290 Europe-bound migrants, including 14 Bangladeshis, AP reported yesterday. 

Asked about it, Ashraful said they were trying to verify the identities of the Bangladeshis.