A disabled British couple who have been stranded in Goa for more than a month have only been able to eat one meal between them a day and are staying in an apartment they ‘wouldn’t let their dog stay in’ due to the coronavirus lockdown.
Former carpet manufacturing company worker Barry Lodge, 72, and his partner of more than 40 years Beth McKelvie, 63, are trapped in the Indian holiday resort after flying there for a £2,000 four-week holiday on February 19.
The pair from Ravenscliffe, Bradford, have spent their life savings desperately trying to get home and are terrified they will contract coronavirus while they are staying in a ‘damp and smelly’ apartment without access to life-saving inhalers Miss McKelvie, who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, needs to survive.
Barry Lodge, 72, and his partner Beth McKelvie, 63, have been stranded in Goa, India, for over a month and have spent most of their life savings trying to get home to the UK
To try and save money the couple eat one meal between them a day after their £2,000 four-week trip to the holiday resort took a turn when lockdown was imposed in the country
They were due to return home to Bradford, West Yorkshire, on March 18 but, after news of the pandemic broke, their flight from Goa to Mumbai was delayed.
The delay resulted in them missing their connecting Etihad Airways flight back to the UK at Mumbai Airport.
The couple spent two days stranded there before a fellow passenger helped them book new flights with Qatar Airways online for an extra £2,000.
When they got to the gate they discovered their tourist visas had expired by just one day due to the hold-up and their tickets were confiscated before they were physically removed from the airport.
After turfing them out onto the pavement, a member of staff came back and demanded they return the wheelchair Miss McKelvie was using, the couple told The Telegraph and Argus.
In a bid to get home the couple have spent nearly all of their £5,000 life savings. They left for their yearly holiday to Goa (resort pictured above) on February 19
They were due to return home to Bradford, West Yorkshire, on March 18 after enjoying their holiday but their flight from Goa to Mumbai was delayed and caused them to miss their flight to the UK
The distraught pair attempted to find a hotel in Mumbai but most were closed and ones that weren’t didn’t allow Brits to enter due to a perceived infection risk.
Unsure what to do, they got a nine-hour taxi back to Goa and found an apartment to stay in which costs only £10 a night.
Mr Lodge said: ‘Where we’re staying now, I wouldn’t let my dog stay there.
‘We’re both registered disabled and are terrified about picking up the virus.
‘We’re packed and ready – we’re just waiting to go.’
With the whole of India on lockdown, Mr Lodge and Miss McKelvie don’t know when they’ll be able to get home and feel ‘abandoned’ by the UK Foreign Office.
Grandad-of-one Mr Lodge, who estimates he has lost nearly all of his £5,000 life savings, said: ‘We both feel like we’ve been completely abandoned. We’re disabled and vulnerable – it’s a depressing situation.
After they were refused entry onto the flight in Mumbai, the couple tried to find a hotel but most of them were closed or refused entry to Brits. They decided to get a taxi back to Goa and found an apartment (pictured)
Their apartment, which they say is ‘damp and smelly, costs £10 a night and their fridge is close to empty as shops are shut
The fridge is old and rusting and the couple say they wouldn’t even let my dog stay in the apartment they are stuck in
‘This has taken virtually all of our life savings. We’re going to have to start all over again.
‘We’re having a meal between us a day and that’s if we can get food. The shops are closed and we’re not allowed out anyway.
‘Beth is totally out of inhalers – she can’t breathe without them, she needs them to live.
‘She also has a chest infection so needs antibiotics. All she wants to do is just go home – she’s crying all the time.
‘Our family are worried to death about us. We just desperately want to get home.’
The couple, who have one son together, have been visiting Goa for four weeks every year for the last two decades.
The couple share one meal a day and Miss McKelvie has run out of inhalers which help her breathe
They claim despite frequent calls to the Foreign Office, the British embassy in India and various helplines they have been given no advice as to whether they will be able to return to the UK.
Their MP, Labour’s Imran Hussain, has also been trying to help them get home.
Mr Lodge shared a video from inside their apartment in Goa where they are stranded
They are quickly running out of cash and with hardly any shops open they are relying on sharing one meal of simple items like Cup A Soups and biscuits a day in order to preserve their funds.
Mr Lodge, who is registered disabled due to having problems with his foot, said: ‘When we were getting on the Qatar flight, we were told our 30-day tourist visas had expired by a day and we couldn’t fly.
‘There was a flight on April 10 and one on April 12 but we have heard nothing since from anyone.
‘We’re happy to pay anything for tickets to get home if someone told us we had a place on a plane we would feel like we’d won the lottery.
‘It’s not just us in this situation out here – there’s a lot of people trapped and they’re not getting any help at all.’
Fellow traveller Michael Ita, who met the stricken couple at Mumbai airport, has set up a GoFundMe appeal to help them pay for food and medicine while they remain in Goa.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has been approached for comment.