A tourist has reportedly been rescued after being stranded in an airport for more than 100 days due to coronavirus travel restrictions, which saw him unable to return home. Roman Trofimov of Estonia was traveling from Bangkok on March 20th on an AirAsia flight when he landed at Manila airport in the Philippines.
Once he arrived, however, he learned he would be unable to leave the departures area as the Philippines were not issuing visas for arrivals due to coronavirus restrictions. The airline was also reportedly not allowed to take him back to Thailand because of the pandemic. Since March 20th, Roman had been stuck in the departures zone of the airport, sleeping on the ground and allegedly surviving on snacks at the airport or food donated to him by airport staff.
“The airline said I need to wait for Enhanced Community Quarantine to be over before I am allowed to fly,” he said, The Sun reported. “I am a person with disability, my health is getting worse because of malnutrition, lack of sun and fresh air,” he said. The man made several pleas on his social media page to help him get out of the airport. He asked his embassy, but they reportedly could not get him a repatriation flight. According to a statement from the Estonian foreign ministry, reported by The Sun, officials claim Roman had flown to the South Asian country after warnings about the coronavirus had been shared.
Link: Fox News