“Woohoo… landed,” wrote Brisbane-based nurse Tinson Thomas on a WhatsApp group set up for coordinating the repatriation of Australians stuck in India.
“It was an experience of its kind, an experience that I would never want to experience again,” he told SBS Malayalam from an Adelaide hotel room, where he will be quarantined for next 14 days with his wife Nimmy.
“When we landed Adelaide, the flight attendants sprayed disinfectants in the cabin. In the airport everything was slow, but we felt welcomed.”
Nearly 375 Australian citizens and residents who were stranded in the south Indian states left Chennai on Sunday afternoon on a private charter flight.
Tinson Thomas with wife Nimmy at Chennai airport Source: Supplied: Tinson Thomas
It was the third flight to depart from India - but the first from southern India - since the Indian government announced a complete lockdown of the country, stopping all modes of public transport, for three weeks initially before extending it for another spell until 3rd of May.
The Lion Air aircraft was organised by Brisbane based company Monarch and Melbourne based Southern AvCharter with the help of the Australian High Commission in India, thanks to the initiative taken by a few Australians stuck in the country. Each passenger paid AUD 2,200 for the journey.
“It's a nice feeling to be back home. I am so relieved,” Kasper Simonsen who coordinated the trip from Chennai said.
Kasper has been stuck at Pondicherry, a small centrally administered territory in the south since early February.
Source: Supplied: Tinson Thomas
“It was a big mission. A pretty hard mission, but the [Australian] Consulate in Chennai helped us out,” he said.
It follows the first flight from Delhi last weekend where almost 450 Australians managed to fly home before more flights were organised from different cities.
Source: Supplied
Last-minute change and police checks
The flight was originally scheduled to arrive in Melbourne, but the destination was suddenly changed to Adelaide last Thursday.
“It created a bit of havoc,” Kasper Simonsen said. “People became tense when the change was announced. I don’t want to use the word anger, but it was tense.
“We explained to them the reason. The hotels for quarantine in Melbourne were full and it was not in our hands.”
Many passengers thought about cancelling the trip, but Kasper said everyone ended up flying.
'Too stressful'
However, many passengers told SBS Malayalam that the trip to Chennai airport was too stressful. From each south Indian state, buses were arranged to take the passengers to Chennai airport.
“The [Australian] Consulate spoke with the Ministry of External Affairs in India, and got travel passes issued for everyone,” Kasper said.
Source: Supplied
The Indian government also sent out a list of Australians flying home, which include Australian-Indians, to all state authorities.
“However it was not easy for everyone. Around 100 passengers from Hyderabad took 19 hours to reach Chennai. They got held up in one of the checkpoints due to the lockdown measures.
“In Bangalore, local police didn’t know this arrangement. So we had to contact the police commissioner directly," he said.
“Yes, it was too stressful. There was no social distancing in the buses. One bus broke down mid-way, and the air condition was faulty, leaking water on the passengers,” Tinson Thomas recalled.
But he said most of the local police officers were supportive.
That was not the experience of everyone, though.
Source: Supplied
A passenger from the state of Kerala told SBS Malayalam that they had to undergo police checks more than 20 times on their way to the bus pick up point.
“At one point I thought of cancelling the trip and going back home, but somehow we managed it.”
All 374 passengers went through primary health checks at Adelaide airport after landing, before being taken to the Pullman Hotel in Adelaide's CBD.
They will be quarantined in the hotel rooms for the next 14 days, and then have to find ways themselves back to individual home states.
