Fell asleep and missed flight, UAE-based Indian stranded at Dubai airport amid coronavirus outbreak

DUBAI: Dozing off at the airport in Dubai left an Indian national stranded at its Terminal 3 as he missed his flight back home and now he cannot even go to his UAE resident as the country refused entry to residency visa holders as a precaution to limit the spread of the coronavirus, according to a media report.

Arun Singh, a UAE resident, missed the last flight to India on Sunday.

Singh, 37, from Pune, had passed immigration and security and was due to board the 4 am Emirates flight to Ahmedabad on March 22 — when he fell asleep in the waiting area and missed the final boarding call by a few minutes, The Gulf News reported.

All flights have since been suspended.

He was not allowed to re-enter in the UAE because residency visa has also been suspended, the report said.

“It was an honest mistake,” Singh, who works in the IT department of a bank in the UAE, said.

“I just fell asleep as I was so stressed. I’m getting a divorce so I was flying back to India to file it,” he said.

“Initially I was allowed back into the arrivals immigration hall but then they said entry was only for GCC nationals. I explained to them that I had fallen asleep and that it was an accident,” he added Singh said he has also contacted the Indian consulate in Dubai but they don’t have any information, the report claimed.

“I can shower and the shops are open so I can buy food and I will need to buy some clothes because my luggage is not with me. Things are available, but they say after Wednesday everything will close in the airport, so I don’t know what will happen then,” he said.