NEW DELHI (CU)_A third Australian trapped in India while caring for his elderly parents has died from COVID-19.
51-year-old Sunil Khanna, from Sydney, had lived in the South Asian nation for several years caring for his parents, before he died in a hospital in the capital city of New Delhi, just a few days after he tested positive for COVID. His brother, Sanjay Khanna, told The Guardian that his brother had been preparing to bring their parents to Australia later this year, but these plans were thrown into disarray after the health crisis in India aggravated.
“This COVID outbreak struck and everything was thrown into total chaos and turmoil,” he said.
Khanna noted that now his “main aim” is to take his 83-year-old father, an Indian national, who has recovered from the virus, to Australia on humanitarian grounds, and he is seeking help from the government in Canberra for these efforts. “He (Khanna’s father) has recovered from COVID, he has his first vaccine shot and he will get his second, we will pay for the quarantine, but he is an elderly man and I hope to get him here,” he said.
Currently, Khanna is being assisted by Sanjay Deshwal, a Sydney migration agent, in his attempts to bring his father to Australia. Deshwal said has spoken to the New South Wales minister for multiculturalism, Geoff Lee, as well as the federal minister for immigration, Alex Hawke, about Khanna’s case.
“We are asking the government to show some compassion, basically,” he said. “Sanjay has been a citizen here for a long time and so had his younger brother Sunil. Both he and his mother both died within 24 hours, which is so sad, but thankfully his father has recovered and is COVID-negative now.”
Khanna is reportedly the third Australian to die in India, following the death of Sydney businessman, Govind Kant, on Sunday (16 May) in a hospital in Delhi. Earlier this month, just days after Canberra imposed a strict ban on arrivals from India, an Australian permanent resident died of COVID-19, while stranded in the South Asian nation.
