Thanks to a group of expats and aviation officials, 444 Australians including 33 infants, trapped in various states across India during a nationwide shutdown, are now homebound.
Speaking to SBS Punjabi just before boarding the Lion Air aircraft at around 11:45 pm (local time) on April 11, Valerie Volpato, a Sydney-based intensive care nurse, said she was “tired, relieved and grateful” all at the same time.
“I can’t feel my eyes, my ears, I can’t believe anything around me right now. I have been having nightmares since the time it all started,” said Ms Volpato who had travelled to India to attend a yoga festival.
“It’s incredible how everything has finally worked out and synchronised amidst all these restrictions," she said.
"The flight, the tickets, the support groups. People are taking care of each other in these tough times. It’s amazing, it's almost like a currency of love that is emerging from somewhere.”
Simon Quinn, an Australian expat based in New Delhi who was instrumental in organising the flight out of India, said the discussion started in a WhatsApp group with just a few other Australians.
“It all began when I reached out to check if there were other Australians stranded in India and it just grew from there. People started created froups on WhatsApp, followed by Facebook where hundreds joined us,” he said.
“Some were stuck in hotel rooms, some without food and medicines. So that’s when we contacted the High Commission in Delhi. They told us they were considering commercial options, but nothing substantial had come out of those talks. That’s when we decided to charter a flight,” he added.
An Australian company, Stratos Group Aviation, joined the rescue operation and helped the group with leasing an aircraft, while another charter company Monarc Global supported them with setting up an online booking system.
12/04/20 SBS Punjabi
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
Speaking to SBS Punjabi just before boarding the Lion Air aircraft at around 11:45 pm (local time) on April 11, Valerie Volpato, a Sydney-based intensive care nurse, said she was “tired, relieved and grateful” all at the same time.
“I can’t feel my eyes, my ears, I can’t believe anything around me right now. I have been having nightmares since the time it all started,” said Ms Volpato who had travelled to India to attend a yoga festival.
“It’s incredible how everything has finally worked out and synchronised amidst all these restrictions," she said.
"The flight, the tickets, the support groups. People are taking care of each other in these tough times. It’s amazing, it's almost like a currency of love that is emerging from somewhere.”
Simon Quinn, an Australian expat based in New Delhi who was instrumental in organising the flight out of India, said the discussion started in a WhatsApp group with just a few other Australians.
“It all began when I reached out to check if there were other Australians stranded in India and it just grew from there. People started created froups on WhatsApp, followed by Facebook where hundreds joined us,” he said.
“Some were stuck in hotel rooms, some without food and medicines. So that’s when we contacted the High Commission in Delhi. They told us they were considering commercial options, but nothing substantial had come out of those talks. That’s when we decided to charter a flight,” he added.
An Australian company, Stratos Group Aviation, joined the rescue operation and helped the group with leasing an aircraft, while another charter company Monarc Global supported them with setting up an online booking system.
12/04/20 SBS Punjabi
0 comments:
Post a Comment