Hundreds of Delhiites holidaying in parts of Asia this holiday season have been left stranded after Sunday’s earthquake, say travel agents and anxious relatives.
The quake also spelt hours of anxiety and tension for those who have families and friends in the affected areas. ‘‘I managed to speak to some of my friends who have gone to the interiors of Thailand. The whole place is in a mess, communication is difficult, the airports have been closed but thankfully, they are safe,’’ says producer Bobby Bedi.
Columnist Devi Cherian said she has been in constant touch with her husband’s office in Colombo, another badly affected area. ‘‘They are badly shaken up, but they are okay,’’ she said. Entrepreneur Kalyani Chawla said her friends holidaying in Phuket (Thailand) had said their hotel was washed away, but are safe.
Travel agents were frantically trying to secure information about tourists as well as handle cancellations. Sameer Jhulka who runs a travel agency called Dimensions at Rajindra Place, ‘‘While we still don’t have a clear picture of things, the situation seems quite bad. We have not been able to contact about 8 couples since morning. 20 people are stranded in Phuket.’’ Anjali Mathur, spokesperson for Travel Affairs said over 90 tourists were sent to South-East Asian countries by her agency alone.
Tejinder Soni, owner of N. Chirag Travels, also had a difficult time contacting tourists sent to earthquake affected countries, but finally managed to get through to find them safe.
Alok Kumar of D’Paul’s said his firm has more than 300 people in Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Phuket at the moment. ‘‘Another 200 more were supposed to leave in the next two days but that is far from likely now. Tours for many have even been cut short due to the situation in these places,” said Kumar.
Bollywood star Fardeen Khan who was supposed to have gone to Bali with hisfamily during New Year has cancelled the programme. Megha Joshi, an art director in the city and her family were set to leave for Thailand tomorrow are in a state of confusion.
Former model Meyhar Bhasin’s sister was holidaying in Thailand with her family and returned the day before the earthquake. ‘‘I just don’t know what to say. They have been very lucky,’’ said Bhasin.