9 UK returnees back at Sylhet quarantine hotel 12 hours after ‘disappearing’

Nine UK-returnees of the same family finally returned to the institutional quarantine centre in Sylhet city tonight, hours after they "disappeared" from there this morning.

"They've returned to institutional quarantine at the hotel around 8:00pm. They had fled from the hotel to visit one's ailing father at Sylhet's Zakiganj upazila," said BM Ashraf Ullah Taher, additional deputy commissioner (Media) of Sylhet Metropolitan Police (SMP).

They were said to have "disappeared" from the hotel at 8:00am but hotel authorities informed police this noon, our Sylhet correspondent reports quoting the ADC.

ADC Taher said they are investigating how the immigrants could have fled when three police personnel were on duty at the hotel.

Action will be taken if any negligence is found on the part of police or the hotel authority, the ADC added.

Sylhet district administration's Assistant Commissioner Mesbah Uddin has fined six adult members of the group.

"Action against the hotel and people who helped them flee from the hotel will be taken," the assistant commissioner said.

Earlier in the day, the nine UK-returnees disappeared from the Sylhet hotel that has been converted to an institutional quarantine centre, reported UNB.

The immigrants are Abdul Malik, 46, Runa Akter, 44; Tamima Akter, 9; Taiyeba Akter, 11; Rubaba Akter, 43, Rahima Begum, 43; Radia Akter, 11; Sayema Begum, 18 and Tahmid Chowdhury, 4.

The hotel authorities informed around 2:00pm that it was discovered that the nine individuals had "disappeared" from the hotel's two rooms that they were occupying.

When contacted over the phone, they said they had gone home to visit their dying family member, according to Britannia Hotel authorities.

Britannia Hotel manager Kawsar Khan said the nine had started their quarantine at the hotel on March 18, and it was supposed to end on March 26 after completion of necessary tests.

On March 18, 152 UK returnees landed at the Sylhet Osmani International Airport by BG-202 flight of Biman. Of them, 147 were sent to 10 residential hotels in Sylhet following the government's directive and under the supervision of army officers and police. Thirty-five were sent to the Britannia Hotel in the city's Ambarkhan area.

As it has emerged that the highly contagious UK variant of coronavirus is already here, the government made institutional quarantine mandatory for all UK returnees from January 1, 2020.