Hundreds Call On SAR To Evacuate Them From India

Hundreds of Hong Kong residents stranded in India due to the coronavirus pandemic are calling on the SAR government to arrange evacuation flights for them, with some reported to be stuck in "unbearable" situations.

"They are getting many traumas, like at night they really miss their families," said Harjit Singh, whose wife and extended family have been in India since mid-March.

Singh, who is in Hong Kong, said his family were supposed to fly back to the SAR this Friday, but their flight was cancelled after a lockdown in India was extended until next month.

"My mother-in-law has asthma and her medicine is not enough for her anymore because she has to follow up her appointments in Hong Kong."

He said the children in the family no longer have nappies to wear and there are hygiene issues, as well as an unstable electricity supply and problems with mosquitoes as temperatures rise.

Singh's family are among nearly 700 Hong Kong people stranded in the state of Punjab, with some 670 others scattered across India, including in the major cities of New Delhi and Mumbai.

Amarjeet Singh Khosa who is part of a group of people working to help bring those stranded in India home said on Wednesday that they hope the SAR government could charter a flight as soon as possible, adding that the stranded residents themselves would be willing to foot the bill.

He said the more than 1,300 people trapped in India are a mixture of Chinese SAR residents, Indians with SAR passports, and others living and working in the city.

"The first category are HKSAR passport holders, and amongst them there are a number of Hong Kong Chinese people and also Indian people who hold the SAR passport. Then we have the second category who may be holding other passports but they're Hong Kong permanent residents. And then the third category would be those who have either not yet completed the seven years and they're not permanent residents or they're probably holding some work visas, including domestic worker visas."

He said the group will be meeting officials from the Security Bureau to discuss how to get the residents home.

Council Front lawmaker Claudia Mo has been helping the group in their quest.

She said many overseas governments have already evacuated their nationals from India and it's time for the Carrie Lam administration to do the same.

"My first thought when I got the request for help was about trauma, was about being cooped up in all the unpleasantness you can name in life," Mo said.

"I mean you don't need to get into an absolute emergency situation to offer help."

Hong Kong laid on charter flights to evacuate residents from the virus-ravaged Princess Diamond cruise ship in Japan, as well as from Covid-19 epicentre Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province.

The SAR also worked with mainland authorities to bring stranded tourists home from Peru and Morocco.