Air India to evacuate them, on a 10-day tour to visit the African state, on flight AI-800
Twenty stranded Pune tourists are expected to reach Mumbai on board an Air India flight in the wee hours of Tuesday.
Speaking to DNA on Monday, the city-based proprietor of Vayudoot Overseas Travellers, Hemant Pai said, “Twenty out of the 22 tourists will be back in India early on Tuesday on Air India flight AI-800. Two others who could not afford the Rs45,000 ticket have decided to stay back and come back by an Egypt Airlines flight on Tuesday.”
The Puneites had travelled to Egypt on a 10-day tour with Vayudoot Overseas Travellers and were scheduled to return on Saturday, but were stranded at Cairo airport for lack of flights. The party, including 14 senior citizens, have undergone a tough time at Cairo airport, battling the twin problems of lack of food and water.
Abhay Darda, son of Chandanmal (63) and Kantabai (61) Darda, told DNA on Monday that instead of looking after the stranded tourists, Indian embassy staff had allegedly taken early Air India flights out of Cairo themselves.
Darda said, “It is the Indian embassy’s job to provide food and shelter to stranded Indians. When I called my parents on Sunday, they were worried and tense. My mother is 61 years old and had undergone a bypass surgery a few years ago.” According to Abhay, his parents got one water bottle after a wait of three hours.
Another Puneite, Rajendra Kankaria, said his brother Madanlal and sister-in-law Vidyawati were also part of the tourist group. “I got in touch with my brother through the tour operator’s son, Suryat, who is with the group. The tourists are giving an undertaking to Air India that they would pay Rs45,000 per head for the tickets after their return to India,” Kankaria said.
Public relations officer of the city-based Enterprising Travel Agents Association, Nilesh Bhansali, said on Monday that it had been decided that the Pune tourists would give an undertaking to pay Air India the ticket amount before February 5.
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