DHAKA: State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam on Sunday said Bangladeshi citizens who are still trapped in war-torn Yemen will be brought back home soon.

The minister was talking to the journalists while receiving 336 Yemen evacuees who arrived home at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in early hours of the day.

Shahriar said that they have brought some 508 people under their supervision so far and International Organization for Migration (IOM) has reported 14 more.

They had received no call from the stranded Bangladeshis in Yemen for last two/three days.

Some people may remain trapped in Yemen but they are a few number and they have been requested to stay near police stations and airports, he added.

The minister went on saying that the number of Bangladeshis in Yemen will be no more than 1,000. However, 18 out 336 evacuees who returned home did not have legal documents.

Foreign ministry officials provided them with the necessary documents and papers, he added.

While talking to journalists, Shahriar specially thanked to Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and state minister for external affairs V. K. Singh for their assistance to rescue the stranded Bangladeshi citizens.

Earlier, some 336 Bangladeshis were flown home from Indian state of Kerala by two flights of Biman Bangladesh Airlines early Sunday.

India authorities evacuated the trapped Bangladeshis from Yemen to Djibouti and later brought them to Kerala.

BDST: 1141 HRS, APR 19, 2015
HB/AKA/SMS