HYDERABAD: The woes of Canada-bound passengers from Hyderabad, who were stranded in Abu Dhabi continue as they had tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival — hours before the connecting flight — and unable to take their onward journey to Toronto.
The passengers have written to Etihad authorities to shift them to separate hotel rooms for isolation, instead of the six-people-in-a-room facility. They were also ready to pay for better facilities.
One of the passengers, Ujwal Gollapudi, an operations manager for Amazon, has also complained that there was no proper internet facility at the place. He said while he wanted to resume work, but was unable to do it due to internet connectivity issues.
“How long can we continue in such a difficult situation?” asked Ujwal.
On Saturday, he was informed that they would have to be in Abu Dhabi until January 28. “The authorities said they would then leave me at the airport. But there is no information on providing private quarantine facility,” he said.
While TOI reached out to the airline representatives to know on how the airline was addressing the various issues brought up by the stranded passengers, they failed to respond to a mail or calls. The passengers said being in a room with people having tested positive for Covid with symptoms would pose a hazard as they had no symptoms of Covid.
“I’ll share your feedback of the quarantine facility for review,” was the response the passenger got on Etihad Help.
The passengers have also appealed to union external affairs minister S Jaishankar and minister of state for external affairs Meenakshi Lekhi for help. “We tried contacting the embassy many times. We are getting looped between departments,” Ujwal said.
