100 Indians stuck in Amsterdam to reach India on Sunday (IANS Impact)
New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) Government sources have indicated that a special KLM flight stuck in Amsterdam with 100 Indian nationals will be allowed to enter India on Sunday as a special case.
IANS had reported earlier in the day that a day before all international flights are to be banned into the Indian airspace amid the coronavirus outbreak in the country, 100 Indian nationals returning from the US had urged the government to rescue them.
They have been stranded at the Amsterdam airport after their flight was turned back mid-air two hours away from Delhi airport, said the wife of a stranded passenger.
Tina Sapra, the wife of Sanjay Sapra, has written to Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri pleading to help her husband and others stranded at the Amsterdam airport.
Speaking to IANS, Tina said: “My husband is among 100 other passengers in Amsterdam, where they have been stranded. They were turned back mid-air when the KLM 871 flight was just two-hours away from the Delhi airport.
“All these passengers, which include pregnant women and senior citizens, are Indian passport holders.”
She had urged the Indian government to arrange a special flight to bring home all the passengers.
Detailing on the ordeal faced by her husband and other co-passengers, Tina said the outbound flight from Chicago with thoroughfare to India was booked within the advisory period, but the flight from Amsterdam to Delhi was re-directed.
She added that the officials at the Delhi airport allegedly suspected that the origin of this flight was from Europe.
“This has led to an emotional turmoil, confusion, stress and undue personal hardship. There is no helpline or senior official to address our grievances.
“As Indian nationals, we request a response and a plan to fix this situation. Time is not on our side with the outbreak getting worse and national boundaries tightening,” added Tina.
Tina insisted that the passengers were stuck in Amsterdam airport and leaving the airport would lead to succumbing to the pervasive virus and exposing oneself to health hazard away from home.
In her letter to Hardeep Puri, Tina said: “I seek your and the Indian government’s intervention to ensure that I get my husband and the other family members get their respective relatives who have been impacted due to this mass confusion, leaving these passengers stranded in Amsterdam on account of Indian government confusing advisories that have impacted travel and movement of transit passengers not originating from Europe.”
–IANS
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