Five Dhaka flights cancelled after Riyadh airport closure

photo: collected

Five flights from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka had been cancelled as of Sunday morning following the closure of Riyadh airport in Saudi Arabia after an attack blamed on Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

Kawser Mahmud, assistant director of the Public Relations Department at the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), confirmed the cancellations, reports Dhaka Tribune.

At least 12 people, including two Bangladeshis, were killed and 309 injured in the attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday, according to Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority. The airport subsequently suspended operations.

In Saturday's statement, the Saudi civil aviation authority said some of the injured were "in critical condition".

It said damage to the airport was being assessed.

An eyewitness who said they had been in the domestic terminal told the news agency that they had seen gate 401 hit and "injured [people] in front of my eyes", adding: "Everyone was running."

More than a dozen ambulances were seen rushing to the airport, according to news agency Reuters, citing an eyewitness.

Saudi-led coalition spokesman Maj Gen Turki al-Maliki later said the attack on one of the passenger terminals resulted in deaths and injuries among civilian passengers and airport staff.

He described the attack as a "full-fledged war crime".

Western embassies in Saudi Arabia have warned their citizens away from the airport. The UK Foreign Office told British nationals to avoid the area "until the airport is secure".

Several Gulf airlines said they had cancelled their flights to and from the airport, with Kuwait Airways citing the "security situation" there.

All flights to Riyadh have either been diverted or cancelled, aviation tracker Flightradar shows.

A Saudi-led military coalition has vowed to respond to the attack, which it has blamed on the Houthis and called a "war crime".

Fighting has recently escalated between Yemen's Saudi-backed government forces and the Houthis, who control most of the country.

On Saturday, a projectile also fell near King Fahd International Airport in Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia, the Saudi-led coalition said.

The attacks come a day after authorities said three Saudis including a pilot were killed in two attacks on the airport by the Iran-backed Houthis the day prior. Another three people were killed in Houthi attacks on two Saudi airports on 6 and 7 October.