> “While others were facilitated by their embassies concerned and were taken for quarantine, officials from the German embassy informed the Indian bureau of immigration that Ziebat is a wanted criminal in their country with several cases of assault and other crimes registered against him. Since he was on a foreign land, they did not take his custody."<p>This sounds highly suspicious to me. If he is a wanted criminal, I would imagine the German government is especially keen to take him home so that he can be held responsible for his crimes. It sounds to me like he doesn't want to leave for Germany and they can't make him board a "rescue flight".
I'm currently stranded in Vietnam (country, not inside the airport).<p>I imagine there are many people just like me. I happen to be quite lucky because in a country of 100 million, there are zero deaths and fewer than 300 cases, most of which are treated. Lots of things are open now and there are no strict social distancing laws anymore.<p>It all comes down to how much money you have saved and how long you can stretch it.<p>This article mentions one Sri Lankan passenger being taken home. I'm a Sri Lankan citizen although I no longer live there. Sri Lanka had its borders closed from March 22, but arranged flights to bring back citizens from situations like this. I can imagine Germany did the same.<p>It looks like this man just didn't want to leave. An airport with wifi, some shops, bathrooms and electricity, combined with the staff being kind enough to provide him with a recliner and amenities sounds much better than going to a place that he'd be eventually in trouble for his past crimes. If anything, the German consulate should forcefully take him if his criminal records are that severe, but it's their job and these are strange times to begin with.
As someone who spent years homeless, this is sort of a hoot:<p><i>According to the second airport official, Ziebat has mostly spent the last 54 days reading magazines and newspapers, talking to his friends and family over the phone, eating at some of the fast food outlets still in operation within the terminal, interacting with housekeeping and security staff, taking walks within the transit area, and using the airport’s washrooms and toilets. Authorities also provided him with a recliner, mosquito net, toothpaste, food and other basic essentials.<p>“He told officials that he can manage his expenses. He sleeps on the beds, benches, on the floors, wherever he feels like. He is alone in the transit area as it is not being used because the airport is closed for passengers,” said the second officer.</i><p>Gosh, I wish my life had been that good when everything went completely to hell. Sounds fairly cushy to me.
You read these headline grabbing stories, also like the one about the couple stranded in Tahiti during this virus, or the original actual guy behind "The Terminal" movie -- and you usually find out that the story is almost always one of bad judgement combined with somewhat unusual circumstances that they aren't trying to avoid like a normal person would.<p>Sometimes the news tries to make it seem like they were unwitting victims who slipped through the cracks and are lost in the system. But no, they're actively acting pretty dumb too. Not much life lesson to be learned from these cases, just spectator sport.<p>This guy is wanted for assault, was in Vietnam, hmm? He'd be lucky if anyone wanted to make a movie out of it.
This is the real reason he is stuck.<p>> "He added that because India did not give Ziebat a visa due to his criminal background — criminal offences are taken into consideration when assessing individual visa cases in India — he remains unauthorised to leave the airport’s transit area. In India, an international passenger can normally stay in transit for just one day, and requires Indian visa to step out of this designated space for travellers passing through the country. The officer added that Ziebat has also not formally applied for an Indian visa."
Thousands if not more Indians have been stranded all over, as government suddenly closed entry to their own citizens. Even incidents like a KLM flight being not allowed to land in Delhi because it had Indians on board. Much confusing instructions from the government to airlines. Passengers from Europe were banned, but the confusing instructions meant that passengers transiting through Europe also were banned. Then seemingly without material change in situation, now the Government is allowing flights back to India.<p>Also these flights are being operated at full capacity, no social distancing. People have to pay for seats beforehand too, while other countries like US only requires an indemnity bond for future payment for evacuation flights.
I dont know if it's still the case but in Frankfurt some people were also stuck in transit for weeks. Their counties couldn't take them back because they weren't able to organize flights.
I actually read `March 2018` at first.
This is not as scary as the story of Mr Mehran Karimi Nasseri (guy who spent 18 years stuck in an airport).<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM4ZpJOAY4k" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM4ZpJOAY4k</a>
Not related to the topic: I have Firefox set to block autoplay, nevertheless the video in the middle of this article just play when I scroll down. Is it happening to someone else? How can websites bypass Firefox configuration?
If he has to be stuck in an airport, the Delhi airport is a good choice. They have sleeping lounges (at least they did when I was their in 2001) where you can sleep, although with zero privacy.