29 Indian sailors stranded in Bangladesh reach home

Twenty-nine Indian sailors -- stranded in Bangladesh due to coronavirus outbreak -- left Dhaka on a special flight of Novoair today.

Carrying the Indian sailors, the special flight departed from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 2:30pm and reached Kolkata at 2:52pm (Indian local time), Novoair said in a press release.

Due to coronavirus situation, flights between India and Bangladesh remained suspended since March 15.

Outgoing Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das recently at a meeting with state minister for Civil Aviation M Mahbub Ali proposed to resume air connectivity between the two neighbouring countries.  

Novoair earlier operated several special chartered flights to Guwahati in Assam and Kolkata to repatriate Indian sailors stranded in Bangladesh since middle of March.