Coronavirus: Six Indians stranded at Dubai airport due to travel restrictions

Six Indians have been camping at the Dubai airport for the past five days after they were not allowed to board their connecting flight back home due to travel restrictions placed by India to limit the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a media report.

The men flew into Dubai from various European countries on March 18. They were supposed to take the Emirates EK 510 flight to New Delhi later that evening. However, they couldn't get onto the plane as the same day India imposed a ban on all passengers arriving from Europe, the Gulf News reported on Sunday.

Since then, the men are stranded at Terminal 3 of Dubai Aiport.

Three of the six passengers hail from Punjab and one each from Rajasthan, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh.

"We don't know what to do. We have been sleeping on airport benches...I don't know how long this stalemate will continue. Initially there were seven of us but one of the passengers flew back to France on Sunday as he was tired of waiting, the paper quoted Deepak Gupta from Delhi as saying.

Ajmer Singh from Himachal Pradesh said he is on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

The passengers said they have contacted the Indian consulate for help several times but haven't heard back from them.

Neeraj Agrawal, head of chancery and consul (Press, Information and Culture) at the Indian Consulate in Dubai said they are trying to resolve the issue.

We are aware of the case. Unfortunately, given the current scenario, there is only so much that we can do at this stage. The airport hotels are full so we can't accommodate them there. We can't fly them to India either. That said, we are in regular touch with the airlines and local authorities to relieve the plight of stranded men, said Agarwal.