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Biman pilot without passport flies to Qatar to bring back Hasina
2019-06-06 20:32:55
Staff Correspondent, bdnews24.com
File Photo: A Boeing 787 Dreamliner of Biman Bangladesh Airlines flying in Dhaka.
A Biman Bangladesh Airlines pilot has flown to bring Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from Finland but been caught without passport in Qatar.
Biman sent the passport of the pilot, Captain Fazal Mahmud, in another flight to Qatar later, Civil Aviation Secretary Mohibul Haque told bdnews24.com on Thursday.
“It will be investigated with due importance how the pilot got on the plane at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport without passport,” he said.
Biman was now sending another pilot to fly Hasina back, he added.
The prime minister is in Finland as part of her official trips to three countries. She had earlier visited Japan and Saudi Arabia.
She is scheduled to return home on Saturday.
A special flight of the flag carrier will ferry Hasina to Dhaka after she will have reached Qatar from Finland by another flight, according to Biman officials.
Fazal flew a Boeing 787 Dreamliner from Dhaka to Qatar on Wednesday night for the prime minister, the officials said.
The issue of him carrying no passport was discovered when the flight reached Qatar.
bdnews24.com contacted the secretary after social media users claimed in posts that the pilot was detained at immigration of Doha International Airport for having no passport on him.
“He was not detained in the incident on Wednesday. He was provided a hotel room to stay,” Mohibul said.
Captain Fazal would fly Hasina back to Bangladesh and his passport was sent to Qatar by a Regent Airways flight, he had added, but later confirmed that another pilot would be sent to Qatar on Friday to operate the special flight.
The secretary, however, said the plane to bring Hasina was yet to fly and would be sent on Friday evening.
Fazal, another pilot named ‘Sazzad’, first officer and 12 cabin crew left Dhaka as an advance party, Mohibul said.
Either Sazzad or another pilot to be sent on the flight on Friday evening will operate the special flight, according to the secretary.
Source: https://m.bdnews24.com/amp/en/detail/bangladesh/1630383