NEW DELHI — Tourists from Australia, Britain and Canada are stranded in India’s capital after their vacations were abruptly ended by a three-week lockdown and international flights were halted because of the coronavirus.
Some said Thursday that they are running out of money and hoping to be flown home with help from their countries’ embassies in New Delhi.
Emma Snashford, a British tourist, said she has contacted officials in London but has been asked to keep waiting.
Snashford and her friend, Lambert Desrosiers Gaudette, a Canadian, said they were visiting Jodhpur, a town popular for its royal palaces, forts and temples, but were kicked out of their hotel shortly before India announced the lockdown on March 24. They moved to New Delhi and managed to find a hostel that opened its doors to 25 foreign tourists.
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“We’ve been desperate for quite a while,” said Gaudette, who is now trying to get on a French rescue flight.
“We have called the [British] embassy and we get put through to London and no one really knows what’s going on. For the last week, we’ve just been told to sit tight, wait,” Snashford said.
Stewart Dufty, an Australian disc jockey, said he was worried about his family and elderly mother back home. He said he was very short of money because he was unable to go to banks .