Sixty-one passengers who had checked in for a Malaysia-bound flight and received boarding passes disappeared from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Saturday (July 4) night after five fellow passengers were found to have discrepancies between their visas and passports.

The incident occurred on Biman Bangladesh Airlines' BG-386 flight from Dhaka to Malaysia. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner departed Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 8:35 pm.

A total of 263 passengers were scheduled to travel on the flight.

Airport sources told the reporter that 76 passengers did not board the aircraft. Of them, five were offloaded at the boarding gate after mismatches were found between their visas and passports. Another 10 passengers had earlier been offloaded by immigration authorities.

According to the sources, many of the remaining passengers left the airport immediately after learning about the visa-related issues. In the end, none of the 76 passengers boarded the flight.

Sources said immigration police have the ability to identify fake e-visas. However, airline check-in counters reportedly issued boarding passes after accepting the visas as verified without proper scrutiny. The passengers also cleared immigration and were permitted to travel abroad. Yet, five passengers were later found to be carrying fake visas at the boarding gate.

The incident has raised questions about how suspected holders of fake visas were able to clear multiple layers of verification, including check-in and immigration, and reach the boarding gate.

All 76 passengers who failed to board were travelling to Malaysia on tourist visas. However, sources claimed they had planned to remain in Malaysia under arrangements allegedly promised by a travel agency.

An eyewitness said, "During boarding, several passengers were suddenly separated and questioned. Later, I learned there were problems with their visas. After that, several other passengers standing in the boarding line disappeared. Shortly afterwards, airport authorities offloaded some passengers."

Repeated attempts to contact responsible officials at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport for comments were unsuccessful.

Airport sources said several passengers had already been offloaded by immigration police due to visa-related issues. Some of them were reportedly travelling to perform Umrah in Saudi Arabia via Malaysia, and were offloaded because of suspicions regarding the purpose of their journey.

In a statement, Biman Bangladesh Airlines said 263 passengers had been scheduled to travel on the Malaysia-bound flight. Ten passengers were offloaded by immigration authorities and another five at the boarding gate because of fake visas. Ultimately, 212 passengers departed for Malaysia, while the whereabouts of the remaining 61 passengers could not be determined. The flight left for Malaysia without them.