Khaleda’s London transfer likely after 10am Friday amid air ambulance delay

The planned transfer of BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to London may be pushed back to late Friday morning, as the special air ambulance sent by the Emir of Qatar is facing “technical problems”, party sources said.

The aircraft, originally scheduled to land in Dhaka on Thursday night, had not departed Qatar as of late evening, prompting BNP leaders to anticipate a delay.

Meanwhile, BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman’s wife, Dr Zubaida Rahman, is set to fly to Dhaka on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight leaving London at 6pm local time (12am Bangladesh time). 

She is expected to arrive in Dhaka at around 9:30am on Friday, BNP Media Cell member Atiqur Rahman Rumon confirmed.

BNP Media Cell’s Shairul Kabir Khan said on Thursday night that the air ambulance’s technical issues would delay the transfer. “We will provide an update once the aircraft departs from Qatar,” he added.

Upon landing, Dr Zubaida is expected to head directly to Evercare Hospital, where Khaleda is being treated in the Coronary Care Unit. She will accompany her mother-in-law on the special Qatari air ambulance back to London, senior BNP leaders said. Given this sequence, Khaleda Zia is now likely to leave Dhaka sometime after 10am on Friday.

Preparations for the transfer will be finalised only after Dr Zubaida’s arrival, party sources noted, indicating that a few hours’ delay is almost certain.

Earlier in the day, Khaleda Zia’s personal physician and BNP Standing Committee member Dr AZM Zahid Hossain said the medical board—comprising local and foreign specialists – had unanimously decided to move her to London “after midnight today or tomorrow morning, InshaAllah, via Qatar Airlines”. A team of doctors from home and abroad will accompany her.