Around 150 Umrah returnees headed to Chattogram are stranded at the Sharjah airport after unprecedented rain and floods in the United Arab Emirates disrupted flights.
The passengers of Air Arabia flight G 9-526 were headed from Madinah to Chattogram when they were stranded l in transit at Sharjah international airport around 9pm on Tuesday, reports bdnews24.com.
As of Thursday morning, the flight has not taken off.
Abu Bakr, who hails from Garjania village in Chattogram's Raozan, is travelling back to Chattogram after completing the Umrah alongside his mother, younger brother, and sister.
Almost half of the passengers are women and children and the difficulty they find themselves in is almost indescribable, he said.
Abu Bakr said the airline has yet to inform them when their flight will depart.
"They have provided food to the stranded passengers, but not arranged hotel rooms for them. They have to make do by sitting or laying down on the benches and floors of the airport."
Jubayer Aktar, a passenger from Chattogram's Korbaniganj, is travelling back home from Madinah with four members of his family. They were sitting by the No. 7 arrival gate at Sharjah airport.
Several passengers - Nadia Ferdous of Chattogram's Kala Mia Baar, Mohammad Abdul Latif and Rabiul Haque from Sitakunda, Mohammad Yunus of Feni Sadar, and Mohammad Zahir Uddin of Chattogram's Chawkbazar - expressed their frustration with the airline for failing to arrange their accommodations.
Sajjad Zahir, second secretary of the Bangladesh consulate in Dubai, was contacted over the matter. He said normal air traffic has been disrupted due to the waterlogging at the Dubai and Sharjah airports and the roads adjacent to them.
"Flights of many airlines, including Emirates, Egypt Air, and Air Arabia are stuck due to the water rising onto the runways of the Dubai and Sharjah international airports," he said.
"The congestion will ease today after the rain stops and the water is cleared from the runway."
"Many VIP passengers are stranded at the airport. We have expressed our apologies to those Bangladeshi passengers who are in trouble and are trying to communicate with them."
Meanwhile Reuters reports from Dubai adds: Emergency workers tried to clear waterclogged roads and people assessed the damage to homes and businesses on Thursday after a rare and epic rainstorm swamped the United Arab Emirates.
Dubai International Airport, a major travel hub, struggled to clear a backlog of flights and many roads were still flooded in the aftermath of Tuesday's deluge.
The rains were the heaviest experienced by the Gulf state in the 75 years that records have been kept. They brought much of the country to a standstill and caused significant damage.
Flooding trapped residents in traffic, offices and homes. Many reported leaks at their homes, while footage circulated on social media showed malls overrun with water pouring from roofs.
Traffic remained heavily disrupted. A highway through Dubai was reduced to a single lane in one direction, bringing traffic to a standstill, while the main road that connects Dubai with Abu Dhabi was closed in the Abu Dhabi direction.
In Dubai, some vehicles, including buses, were almost entirely submerged in water. Long queues formed at petrol stations.
Emergency workers used a fire truck to pump water from a road flooded in nearly waist-deep water as drivers tried to pass, navigating around abandoned vehicles.
Operations at Dubai airport remain disrupted after the storm flooded the runway, resulting in flight diversions, delays and cancellations.
The airport said on Thursday morning it had resumed receiving inbound flights at Terminal 1, used by foreign carriers, but that flights continue to be delayed and disrupted.
It later said check-in was open at Terminal 3 for Emirates and flydubai flights, but cautioned there was a large number of people waiting to check in and said travellers should only arrive at the terminal if they have departure confirmation from their airline.
Emirates, the single largest carrier at the airport, had stopped all check-in procedures on Wednesday.
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