As many as 18 Indians, all from Tamil Nadu, are among those stranded on the cruise ship, ‘A Sara’, which remains anchored in the Nile, near the city of Luxor in Egypt, for the fifth day after 33 passengers and 12 crew members tested positive for COVID-19.
A passenger from Coimbatore, who spoke to The Hindu over phone on Sunday, said the passengers, most of them over 50 years, are in a state of panic as they were yet to hear from the Ministry of External Affairs and Indian Embassy in Egypt about evacuation efforts.
Of the 18 from Tamil Nadu, an engineer from Chennai, was shifted to a hospital in the port city of Alexandria on Saturday after he developed symptoms of COVID-19.
The passengers left the country on February 27 and were supposed to return on March 7.
Salem-based Grand Royal Tours had organised the tour and the package included a cruise on the Nile river.
The cruise ship had 171 passengers on board as per reports of international media.
A bellboy was the first to test positive.
“The crew told us that we will be quarantined for 14 more days. We were asked to remain in rooms. The crew is not providing us food on time and not asking about medical requirements of passengers who are senior citizens. The crew is also not communicating to passengers properly, who are all in a state of panic,” said Vanitha Rengaraj, 60. founder of Sharanalayam orphanage in Coimbatore, who along with her husband R. Rengaraj, 62, are among the stranded strangers.
“The crew members forcibly took the Chennai native to a hospital, leaving his wife in the ship. They do not respond to our queries,” she alleged.
When Egypt had one case of COVID-19, Ms. Rangaraj, who had booked the package in advance, asked the tour operator whether it was safe to travel to the country. The operator guaranteed a safe tour.
According to her, the U.S. government evacuated their passengers from the ship a few days ago.
Mr. Rengaraj’s daughter Saranya Rengaraj said that the matter was communicated to the Indian Embassy in Egypt through the tour operator.
“We do not know whether the government knows about the stranded Indians. We expect them to take immediate measures for their safety and return,” she said.
Seeking help for the evacuation of her parents and other Indians, Ms. Saranya tweeted about the situation, tagging the official Twitter handles of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister’s Office and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. An official from the Indian Embassy met the group and assured that they would do their best, she said.
Arun Pandiyan, general manager of Grand Royal Tours in Salem, said all measures were being taken for the safe return of passengers from Tamil Nadu.
He said the passengers were being provided with food, though there are some delay since it cannot be cooked in the ship due to COVID-19 positive reports. The return was delayed after one of the persons on the ship being affected by COVID-19 was reported to one of the persons on the cruise ship.
“We are in contact with the Embassies there and measures are being taken to bring them back. The test results of all members in the group has returned negative except for the Chennai-based passenger. However, the passenger told us he does not have any symptoms and we have requested for recheck,” he said
(With inputs from Vignesh Vijayakumar)