Bangladesh News

All the 218 passengers, stranded at Dubai International Airport due to wheel failure of a Bangladesh Biman airliner on Monday, were brought back home yesterday.

“They (stranded passengers) were brought back to Dhaka safely by two separate aircraft at around 3:40pm,” a Biman Bangladesh official said while talking to The Daily Star.

The Dhaka-bound Airbus suffered a wheel failure during takeoff, forcing Dubai International Airport, the busiest in the Middle East, to suspend its operations for about eight hours. The Airbus is lying idle at the Dubai Airport at present awaiting investigation, Biman sources said.

Meanwhile, Managing Director (MD) of Bangladesh Biman MA Momen ruled out the possibility to compensate Dubai International Airport authorities for occupying their airport for a long time.

“The Dhaka-bound Airbus safely landed at Dubai Airport from the Heathrow,” Biman MD told The Daily Star adding, “Dubai Airport also showed green signal to the aircraft for take-off.”

The Airbus of the national flag carrier, worth $90 million, was bought in 1996.

“If the insurance company found that the aircraft is Beyond Economic Repair (BER), they will pay Biman Bangladesh the insurance money, otherwise they will pay for repairing the damaged aircraft,” he added.

Meanwhile, out of the two probe committees, the one led by Capt Ismail, Chief of Flight Safety, has reached Dubai to investigate the cause of the accident and to assess losses, Biman sources said.