150 passengers arrive from Libya without Covid certificate, flight operator fined
From the 153 passengers who were on board, only 3 had the PCR certificates with them
On Tuesday, 150 passengers from Libya arrived in Bangladesh without Covid-19 test certificates.
The flight operator was fined Tk3 lakh by Airport Magistrate Ahmed Jamil, for violating the rules. The matter was confirmed by "Magistrates All Airports of Bangladesh" on their Facebook page.
The special flight of Burak Air was bringing back the Bangladeshi nationals stranded in Libya.
Bangladesh authorities allowed the flight on the condition that all the passengers would have to bring the Covid-19 negative certificate as per the circular of the Civil Aviation Authority.
But after landing in Dhaka, the staff of the health desk discovered that only three passengers had their Covid certificates.
Those three were allowed to go home to pass the quarantine period as per the rule.
The remaining 150 passengers were sent for institutional quarantine.
"The flight operator claimed that there was no scope for RT-PCR test in Libya but in that case, they could have brought the antigen test. However, three passengers showed the PCR certificate so the operator's claim does not add up," said Ahmed Jamil.