Freed 2 Bangladeshis returning

The two Bangladeshi migrant workers, who have been freed on March 24 after being held captive by militants for 18 days in Libya, left Malta for Dhaka yesterday.

"They have left Malta around 3:30pm local time. They will reach Dhaka through Istanbul by a flight of Turkish airline," ASM Ashraful Islam, counsellor (Labour Wing) at Bangladesh embassy in Tripoli, told The Daily Star over phone yesterday. 

The airline will make a stopover in Istanbul, he said. He, however, could not confirm whether they might reach Dhaka today or tomorrow.

Ending all confusion over their whereabouts, Helal Uddin of Jamalpur and Anowar Hossain of Noakhali reached Tripoli last Thursday and flew the next day for Malta where the office of their employer, Value Added Oilfield Services (VAOS), is situated.

Their families, however, said they could not contact the duo after they got on the flight.

Anowar's wife Marufa Khatun told The Daily Star that Anowar on Friday said they would reach Dhaka in a day or two.

Unidentified militants abducted the Bangladeshis along with seven other foreigners -- four Filipinos, an Austrian, a Czech and a Ghanaian -- from the Al-Ghani oilfield south of Sirte on March 6.

Later, the Bangladeshis were freed with another Ghanaian in Sirte on March 24. But the local army in Misrata of Libya caught them for interrogation.

Finally, VAOS brought them to its office in Tripoli before sending them to Malta.