John Jofin and Simmy Jofin, a couple originally from Kochi and settled in Vegreville in Canada for the last eight years, were on cloud nine as the much anticipated day of arrival of their parents on permanent residency eventually approached.
But then everything went for a toss when their elderly parents, all in their 60s, who were originally supposed to walk into the warm embrace of their children on Thursday, got stranded at Frankfurt airport in Germany where they continue to languish late into Friday night.
“Our parents were travelling on permanent residency but were stopped from boarding flight from Frankfurt to Calgary, some four hours’ drive from our place, owing to a sudden rule brought in by the Canadian government in the wake of the onslaught of COVID-19 whereby even those on permanent residency could not enter Canada if it was their first visit to the country. We are now Canadian citizens and we were told that there were no restrictions on the entry of family members of Canadian citizens,” a very anxious sounding Mr. John told The Hindu from Calgary over a WhatsApp call.
The elderly persons who do not even have mobile phones and possess only some ₹ 20,000 are accompanied by a friend of Mr. John. The friend himself is in trouble as he is travelling with his young family comprising two children aged 3 and 4 years. “Since the stay and food in the airport is prohibitively costly, our parents didn’t even have adequate food over the last two days. They are so fragile and their life is in danger. Our attempts to approach the Canadian MP and emigration authorities to facilitate their entry also proved futile,” said Mr. John.
Even efforts to check them into a flight back to Kochi proved futile as the West Asia-based airline said that they were no longer flying to that part of the world.
Finally, with the help of the Indian Embassy in Germany Mr. John managed to book them into a flight on Friday late night, which was scheduled to reach Mumbai via Abu Dhabi by Saturday 3 p.m. Hardly had he heaved a sigh of relief, he got a call from the relative who was supposed to pick the parents at the airport saying that there was a lockdown in Maharashtra making it nearly impossible for them to reach the Mumbai airport from Pune or Nasik.
“If my uncle could not pick them owing to the lockdown, then it will be another difficult situation if they are asked to undergo 14 days quarantine in Mumbai, which is an alien place to them. This flight is their only hope to get back to India as I am told that there are no flights to India for a week thereafter. Please do something to bring them back safely to Kerala,” Mr. John pleaded over the phone.
