Bangladesh nationals bundled up in blankets to fend off the early morning cold in the UN tent camp inside Tunisia near the Libyan border at the Ras Jdir border crossing
About 3,500 Bangladeshi workers had made it home by yesterday from strife-torn Libya, but tens of thousands of others are still stuck in the country with little prospect of getting out soon.
Bangladesh had more than 60,000 workers in Libya before protests and rebellion swept through the country. Most of the workers are poor and were advised by their government to stay in Libya unless they were targeted.
Dhaka admitted it did not have the funds to get its nationals out of the country.
Many of the 3,500 who have made it home did so under their own expense or were repatriated by their employers and the International Organisation for Migration, finance secretary Mizarul Quayes told AFP.
“In addition, more than 26,000 Bangladeshi workers have left Libya and are awaiting repatriation from Tunisia, Egypt, Greece and Italy,” he said.
Relatives of stranded workers have accused the government of abandoning them.
Two Bangladeshis in their early 30s — one in Tunisia and one in Egypt — had died after fleeing Libya, the official said.
“Their families have been informed about the tragedies. It seems they were stressed after a long journey from Libya,” he said. AFP