Few hundred US citizens left here on Sunday (April 5) when the US government arranged a second chartered flight for those who opted to go back home on their personal choice amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Qatar Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) with 322 US citizens, two dogs and one cat at 5:58 pm according to HSIA sources.
Foreign Secretary Masud bin Momen and US ambassador in Bangladesh Earn Miller exchanged views with the departing passengers.
The flight carrying the US citizens, mostly expatriate Bangladeshis residing in the USA permanently, will arrive at Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C. via Doha Qatar, while the passengers will remain on the airplane in Doha.
On March 30, 269 US citizens who had been stranded here due to the global outbreak of coronavirus first left Bangladesh by an identical charted flight to USA.
Earlier, the US embassy officials said the US government is not forcing anyone to return to the US, this is a personal choice based on what its nationals are comfortable with.
They said this kind of arrangement is not only taking place in Bangladesh as so far, the US State Department arranged special flights from 78 countries around the globe to take back nearly 40,073 US citizens to the USA till April 4.
Many US citizens live in Bangladesh and many have decided to go back to USA. US embassy is committed to extend help to them. All US citizens should get them registered with Smart Citizen Enrolment Program (SMART) to get assistance of US government.