Twenty-six Nepali migrant workers languishing in Malaysia after doing their time in jail for working illegally were repatriated to Nepal on Wednesday.

The Malaysia-based Nepali embassy took the initiatives with the help of Nepal government and Foreign Employment Promotion Board to buy air tickets for the stranded migrant workers. Fifteen of them came to Nepal by Air Asia D7 196 flight and 11 others flew by Malindo Air OD 182 flight, a statement issued by Nepali embassy in Malaysia said.

The repatriated Nepali workers Dhandev Rai, Lakpa Dorji Sherpa, Gitamaya Rai, Rupesh Subedi, Bibek Sodari, Milan Gurung, Pravin Krishna Paudel, Bhojraj Ghimire, Bagbir Lopchan, Sher Bahadur Damai, Prakash Kumar Rai, Kale Tamang, Narendra Kumar Singh, Binod Gautam, Satyanarayan Budha, Raj Kumar Yadav, Krishna Hari Baniya, Lal Bahadur Biswakarma, Hari Bahadur Thapa, Dhan Prasad Nembang, Pradip Ahir, Lok Prasad Nembang, Kabindra Yoknangden, Bhupendra Shrestha, Dharma Raj Bhattarai, and Gopal Rai.

They were kept at immigration detention centres after they completed their jail sentence.

So far, the embassy has repatriated 557 Nepali migrant workers by making arrangement to buy air tickets with the help of government and non-government organisations.

Likewise, the embassy is also preparing to repatriate other Nepali workers stranded at detention camp.