Thousands of Bangladeshis were stuck at Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur airports on Friday amid a last-minute rush before Malaysia shut its doors to migrant workers on May 31.

Many aspiring migrants said that they could not manage tickets despite wanting to pay a high price, while many who found tickets and managed to reach Kuala Lumpur were not received by their recruiters.

The Bureau of Manpower, Employment, and Training’s immigration director, Sadeq Ahmad, said that they had stopped issuing clearances as many of those who had already received them could not fly due to a ticket shortage.

It left some 31,000 aspirant migrants without mandatory clearance, despite applying for it by maintaining due process.

Witnesses said that an estimated 5,000 aspirant migrants gathered at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Friday on assurance from their agents to manage air tickets for them.

One of them was Md Shariqul Islam, 40, who paid over Tk 5 lakh to migrate to Malaysia months ago but could not fly even on Friday.

‘As I was worried about Malaysia closing the door for migrants, I contacted the broker. He asked me to come to the airport, assuring me of my flight, but I did not get any,’ said Shariqul, who came from Natore in the early morning, near the car parking area of the Dhaka airport.

‘I have collected my migration costs from selling my cattle and collecting loans from local lenders with high interest. If I cannot fly to Malaysia, I have no way but to commit suicide,’ said Shariful.

Shariqul was accompanied by three of his relatives, who also paid the money to the same agent of the recruiting agency, South Point Overseas Ltd, who could manage tickets for any of them, leaving them waiting in the open air.

Civil aviation authorities said that seven flights left for Malaysia on Friday, including several special flights, carrying 1,771 passengers.

The chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, Air Vice Marshal M Mafidur Rahman, said that they gave top priority to Malaysia-bound flights.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, and AirAsia among others, applied for additional flights, and CAAB allowed them.

About 6,000 Bangladeshi migrants, who reached Malaysia this week, many as early as Sunday, remained stranded at Kuala Lumpur International Airport as their employers did not come to receive them.

Videos sent by several migrants showed many Bangladeshis stuck at immigration for a long time amid  a chaotic situation.

Many went unfed or half-fed at the airport because they ran out of money.

Bangladesh Association  of International Recruiting Agencies secretary general Ali Haider Chowdhury said that the Malaysian authorities had informed them that the deadline for migrant workers to enter the country would not be extended.

He said if the government took any action against recruiting agencies that showed negligence in the matter and could not send workers on time, BAIRA would support it.

WARBE Development Foundation chairman Syed Saiful Haque demanded a probe against the agencies and punishment for their ill practices.

‘The syndicate of recruiting agents is responsible for the situation, but poor migrants are bearing the brunt,’ said Syed Saiful Haque, chairman of the WARBE Development Foundation.

Malaysia is one of the top destinations for Bangladeshi migrants.

The country has shut its doors to Bangladeshi migrants three times in the past 15 years amid allegations of massive irregularities.

The labour market reopened in the country in August 2022 after a gap of nearly four years following negotiations between the authorities from both countries.

BMET statistics showed that until April 30, a total of 4,46,500 workers had migrated to the country since the reopening of the market.

The aspiring migrants alleged that they took between Tk 5 and 7 lakh from each, while the government set Tk 78,990 as the migration cost.