Page 7 - IAV Digital Magazine #497

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American Among Tourists
By Linda Givetash and Moska Najib,
Six tourists, including one American, have been rescued after hiding from the coronavirus p andemic in a cave in India for nearly a month, local officials said on Wednesday.
The tourists were staying at a hotel in the town of Muni Ki Reti in the northern state of Uttarakhand but decamped to the cave on the banks of the Ganges when they could no longer afford their rooms, the Laxman Jhula Police Department said in a statement to NBC News.
They lived in the cave since March 24, the same day India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a
nationwide lock- down to combat the spread of the virus.
After being picked up by police on Saturday, the group was tested for coronavirus and all results came back nega- tive, officials said. But as a precau- tion, the six were being required to
quarantine at a spiritual sanctu- ary in the area.
The American — identified by police as Michael Falcone, 38, from Connecticut — has been in the country since November, police said. The other tourists were from Ukraine, Turkey, France and
Nepal.
Tourists stuck in the country do not risk overstay- ing their visitors' visas, which have been all extended to May 3 as part of the nationwide lockdown.
There are between 40 and 50 American citi- zens scheduled
to leave Uttarakhand on Wednesday with the support of the U.S. Embassy, Dheeraj Singh Gabriyal, district magistrate of the Pauri Garhwal district, told NBC News in a tele- phone interview. However, the American found in the cave will not be able to join
them.
"Right now they have to finish their 14 (day) quarantine period first," Gabriyal said. Once that's complete, arrangements can be made to repatriate them.
Found Living In Indian
Cave During Lockdown
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