Some 178 Russians employees of Rooppur Nuclear Power Project left Bangladesh on April 6 on a chartered flight from Dhaka, said a press release of Rosatom, the Russian contractor of the project.

It mentioned that Russia's state atomic energy corporation Rosatom arranged the special flight to take 178 of its employees back home to Nizny Novgorod. 

These people were engaged in construction of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Bangladesh. However, their absence will not hamper the ongoing work of the project, said Rosatom.

It said that most of them left Bangladesh as a regular replacement procedure while few expressed their desire to stay with their respective families amid global coronavirus crisis. 

All are in good health as no COVID-19 case has been reported at the Rooppur NPP construction site. But still, as per the Russian Federation rules, they will spend 14 days in isolation at a special facility in Nizhny Novgorod under supervision.

“With the consent of the Russian Federation Government, we have organised the charter flight and returned to Russia 178 people.” said Rosatom Director General Alexey Likhachev.

After the situation normalises, all employees who desired to return will be able to come back to their respective work places abroad.

Presently over 2,000 foreigners, most of them from Russia, are working at Rooppur Nuclear Plant construction.