Directives issued for repatriating rescued Bangladeshis in Bay

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Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury has issued instructions to the relevant authorities to "facilitate the repatriation of those survivors identified as Bangladeshis" in the incident involving the sinking of a boat near the Andamans, reports UNB.
The Foreign Adviser gave the instructions in an urgent meeting held to discuss the issue at the Foreign Ministry Tuesday.
Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain, Secretary of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Abdul Matin Chowdhury and Director-General for South East Asia at the Foreign Ministry Muhammad Imran were present at the meeting.
Necessary instructions have been sent out to the relevant Bangladesh Missions abroad.
Meanwhile, Foreign Adviser, who had expressed his "deep sorrow" at the incident Monday, said: "There is no need to seek such desperate methods to go abroad when this can been done easily legally. In fact this year we have issued clearances for over 870,000 workers for employment abroad, which is a record."
He thanked the Indian navy and coast guard for the rescue operations that are being conducted at sea.
Meanwhile, rhe Indian Coastguard rescued two people off India's east coast during a search for more than 300 illegal immigrants missing for the past four days and feared dead, police said Tuesday.
At least 10 bodies have washed ashore near the Andaman Islands, said S P Sharma, the Coast Guard inspector-general on the islands.Survivors told Indian authorities that more than 300 people from Bangladesh and Myanmar had jumped from a rickety boat that had been drifting for 13 days in the Indian Ocean and tried to swim to shore. Authorities rescued 105 others after pulling in the boat.
"We have no independent confirmation of how many people were on the boat. We are going by what those rescued have told us," Sharma said. The two newly rescued people were found Monday floating near the shore of the island chain.
The wooden boat, about 65 to 80 feet (20 to 25 meters) long and with no covering from the harsh sun, was not big enough to hold so many people, he told The Associated Press.
The rescued people have been given medical help and were being questioned by police in Port Blair, the Andaman capital, Sharma said.