54 Indian tourists stranded at Kuala Lumpur airport

Over 30 are from T.N.; they were to return on March 18

22/03/2020, KATHELENE ANTONY ,TIRUCHI

An official of the Indian Embassy in Malaysia has met the tourists. LIM HUEY TENG/REUTERS

Indian tourists, stranded at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport for the fourth day, have appealed for intervention from the Union Government, to facilitate their travel back home.

A total of 54 tourists, with over 30 from Tamil Nadu, were scheduled to return to India on March 18, but they have been stuck with no means to return, as all flights from the country to India have been cancelled.

The travellers, who were to return home by a SriLankan Airlines flight via Colombo, had completed emigration and security checks and were seated at the waiting hall of the airport, when the Centre announced the cancellation of flights, said the passengers.

When an Indian flight, which arrived at the airport to airlift Indian students stuck in Malaysia on March 19, refused to board them, their hopes were shattered.

An official of the Indian Embassy in Malaysia met the passengers and said that measures to take them home were under way.

S. Sivarasu, Tiruchi District Collector, who received a copy of the letter from the Indian Embassy in Malaysia to the Indian Government, said that efforts to bring them back were on.