Biman with 379 passengers departs for Dammam amid Houthi attack

Collected Photo

Biman Bangladesh Airlines operated a flight to Saudi Arabia’s Dammam on Thursday morning carrying 379 passengers, despite a reported Houthi attack on the city’s King Fahd International Airport that left one person dead and eight others injured.

The flight departed Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 8AM, according to Shahnur Ahmed, spokesperson for Biman Bangladesh Airlines’ public relations division.

“The flight departed for Dammam at 8AMm as scheduled,” he told Bangla Tribune.

Asked about the safety concerns surrounding the flight, Shahnur said it had been cleared to operate.

“It flew because permission was granted. Had permission not been given, it would not have flown,” he said.

The development came after Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) confirmed on Wednesday that a Houthi attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam had killed one person and injured eight others, according to Qatar-based Al Jazeera.

GACA said the injuries ranged from minor to serious and that all the injured had been taken to hospital for treatment.

The departure of the Biman flight comes amid heightened security concerns following the reported attack. However, no further details were immediately available about the specific security clearance granted to the flight or any additional precautionary measures taken before departure.