Marian and Don Stuart from Waihi Beach are stranded in New Delhi, India. Photo / File
Marian and Don Stuart from Waihi Beach are stranded in New Delhi, India. Photo / File
"Bring our people back."
That's the desperate plea to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern from the family of a Bay of Plenty couple stranded in a hotel room in India for nearly a fortnight.
The Government has announced a "managed plan" to get foreign nationals stranded in New Zealand back home,and a Tauranga relative of a couple stranded in India wants the same approach for Kiwis stranded offshore.
Don Stuart, 72, and his wife Marian, 69, from Waihi Beach, have been advised that their hotel is going to be closed, possibly in a two to three days time.
The couple has been confined to their Pride Plaza Hotel Aerocity hotel room in New Delhi since their tour of India was cancelled last month due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
Some of their tour group and the tour guide managed to get return flights home but the Stuarts had two booked flights cancelled and New Delhi International Airport is closed until midnight on April 14.
The couple has been surviving on a meagre amount of food - rationed bananas and some food from room service for days - and were at breaking point, their family said.
Don's younger brother Pat Stuart, a Tauranga lawyer, said last night the couple were told by hotel staff that the hotel was going to be closed, possibly in two or three days time.
"It's really distressing as Don and Marian and the other stranded couple in their tour group [John and Jo Davidson from Hamilton] just don't know what's going on. They have no idea where they will go if they can't find alternative accommodation," he said.
"Don and Marian and the other hotel guests' situation has become very dire."
Pat Stuart said National Party leader Simon Bridges had spoken to his brother Don again last night and Bridges also contacted the New Zealand High Commission office.
"Simon has been amazing. We've been told an officer from the High Commission in New Delhi is going to arrange delivery of some food to the hotel and also try to assist them to find somewhere else to stay if they are kicked out of their accommodation," he said.
"The High Commission is now very aware of dire predicament that Don and Marian and Jo and John Davidson face as well as the other hotel guests."
Stuart said he had sent an email to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern pleading with her to take urgent action.
"There are plenty of Air New Zealand planes sitting on the tarmac in Auckland and surely we can send two planes with two crews to fly to New Delhi to bring our love ones home.
"In my email, I told Jacinda, that if anything happens to Don and Marian and the others stranded in India then she will be responsible. I'm pleading with her, bring our people back," he said.
The Prime Minister's office has been contacted for comment.
National Party leader Simon Bridges. Photo / File
National Party leader Simon Bridges could not be contacted for comment today.
But he earlier confirmed he had spoken to Don Stuart a few days ago and given him his best advice about reaching out to the High Commission for support.
And also raised the couple's situation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Bridges, who is chairman of the Epidemic Response Committee, said he was "very aware" not only of the Stuarts' plight but there were also lots of other similar cases, including some people from Pāpāmoa stranded in Latin America.
"Unfortunately, there is no quick fix or easy solution given the global lockdown. It's not just a matter of simply chartering a plane," he said.
Bridges said he was "at a bit of loss" what could be done in the short term, but he was going to discuss the matter again with the ministry and the Government.
