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Three tourists died and two others went missing after strong currents swept them away while they were bathing at Himchari beach in Cox's Bazar on Wednesday afternoon, police said. Another member of the group was rescued alive and taken to hospital.

Soleiman, who heads the Himchari police outpost, said several tourists had entered the sea near the museum beside Marina Resort when the current pulled them out. Local residents began a rescue operation and recovered several people. Three were declared dead after being taken to hospital, he said. Police and local volunteers were still searching the water for the two missing tourists in the evening.

Ramu Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Md Jillur Rahman also confirmed the deaths. He told Bangla Tribune that the tourists were carried away by the waves and that a rescue operation was under way. Reports put the incident in the late afternoon, though accounts of the exact time differed slightly.

The identities of the dead and the missing had not been released on Wednesday night. Police said names would be disclosed after their families had been informed. It was also not clear how many people were in the group, whether any of them were children, or which districts they came from. The condition of the rescued tourist was not immediately available.

Himchari lies about 12 kilometres south of Cox's Bazar town, where hills run down to the sea and the beach is a short drive from the main tourist strip. It is one of the most visited spots on the roughly 120-kilometre coastline, and the stretch attracts crowds during holidays and festivals.

Most of that coastline has no lifeguard cover. The chief of the district administration's beach workers, Belal Uddin, told Bangla Tribune in June that 27 lifeguards and 37 beach workers were deployed along the five-kilometre stretch from Kalatoli to Laboni point. The remaining 115 kilometres to the south, taking in Himchari, Darianagar, Inani, Patuartek, Bahrarchhara and Teknaf, had little or no rescue capacity, he said.

Belal Uddin said at the time that the administration ran campaigns warning people not to bathe in the sea in bad weather, but that tourists often ignored the warnings and entered the water at unprotected spots. Wednesday's deaths raised the same question again: whether warning flags and patrols were in place at the Himchari section when the group went in. Neither the police outpost chief nor the UNO said on Wednesday whether lifeguards were on duty there, or whether red flags had been posted.

The coast has a record of similar accidents. In June, a 22-year-old tourist went missing after he was swept away at Inani, and another tourist drowned at Segal point in Cox's Bazar town on 31 May, Bangla Tribune reported at the time. In the June case, the missing tourist's friend said there were no lifeguards, police officers or other people nearby when the current took him.

Rescue work at Himchari on Wednesday was carried out by local residents and police, according to the outpost chief. It was not clear whether fire service divers or other specialised teams had joined the operation. The search was continuing on Wednesday night.

For the families, the immediate wait is for identification and for news of the two still in the water. For the district administration, the case again puts attention on the long unguarded stretches of beach, where visitor numbers have grown while rescue services have stayed small. Belal Uddin said in June that tourists were ignoring warnings at unprotected spots, and that the administration could not station rescuers along the whole coast.

What happens next depends on the search and on whether the administration reviews safety at Himchari. Police have not said whether they will file a case or order an inquiry into how the group entered the water. The names of the dead and missing, and the exact sequence of events, are still to be confirmed.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines will operate a single flight to Riyadh after midnight on 25 October, its first since suspending the route, while its Dammam service restarted on Wednesday as restrictions at Saudi airports continued to reshape travel between the two countries.

The airline said the Dhaka-Riyadh flight will leave Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 1:25am Bangladesh time on 25 October. It will decide later whether to operate the rest of its Riyadh schedule, after reviewing the situation, according to a statement from its public relations department.

Flights to Dammam resumed on 21 October and will leave Dhaka at 8am every day until 26 October, using Boeing 777 aircraft. Two Jeddah flights will depart on 22 October, followed by one a day at 7:20pm from 23 to 25 October. Services to Madinah have been running since 18 October with Boeing 787 aircraft, and that schedule is unchanged.

At Dhaka airport, the disruption now covers 134 direct and transit flights and 20,254 passengers, Squadron Leader Sakib of the airport's Security and Flight Management Wing said. Sixty-one of the flights were direct and 73 were transit services. Among direct operators, Biman had 22 affected flights, Saudia 19, US-Bangla Airlines 10 and Riyadh Air 10. IndiGo accounted for 28 transit flights, followed by Emirates with 14, Qatar Airways with nine, flydubai with eight, SalamAir with seven, Air India with six and EgyptAir with one.

The cancellations began after missiles and drones struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on 10 October. Saudi authorities reported 13 people killed and 308 injured, including two Bangladeshis killed and 27 injured, according to figures reported by bdnews24.com. Yemen's Houthi movement said it carried out the attack and later warned airlines and passengers against using Saudi airports, saying it would keep targeting airports and oil facilities. Saudi Arabia leads a military coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen.

Riyadh's airport was closed after the attack, forcing airlines across Asia and Europe to cancel services. Biman suspended its Dhaka-Riyadh flights and extended the suspension indefinitely on 17 October, saying it would wait for instructions from airport authorities. US-Bangla Airlines cancelled its Dhaka-Riyadh flights until 21 October. Biman described the situation at Saudi airports as gradually improving when it announced the limited restart.

The disruption has fallen hardest on migrant workers. Many passengers on the route are Bangladeshis travelling to jobs in the kingdom, and some have visas or residence permits nearing expiry. bdnews24.com reported that workers whose documents were close to expiry faced particular uncertainty, and that airlines were changing tickets where seats were available. The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh has told carriers to inform passengers about cancellations and schedule changes and to help with rebooking and refunds.

Biman has advised passengers to contact its sales centres for tickets, bookings and travel information. It has not said how many of the 20,254 passengers have been rebooked, how many are still waiting, or whether it will add more flights beyond the ones announced for this week.

Several questions remain open. The 134-flight figure is cumulative and may rise if the restrictions continue. Biman's plan for a single Riyadh flight suggests capacity on the route is still limited, but the airline has not explained what conditions would allow a full schedule to return. Nor has Saudi Arabia announced a date for normal operations at the airport. It is also unclear whether Bangladesh will secure more time for workers whose visas are close to expiring.

The next test comes on 25 October, when the Riyadh flight is due to leave. Before that, the daily Dammam service runs until 26 October, and the extra Jeddah flights are meant to absorb passengers who would normally have travelled through Riyadh. Travellers have been advised to confirm their flight status with the airline before going to the airport, because schedules are still changing at short notice.