The news came into attention when the Indian Embassy in Serbia announced that they were trying to evacuate over 200 Indians which included mostly students, at the Belgrade airport. On Friday, Serbia revised their rules of travelling restrictions. According to the new rules, the passengers are expected to complete a seven day quarantine. The travelers were not warned or informed about the new rule until they reached Serbia. The main reason for Indians being frequent travelers from Serbia is because Serbia is a transit point for people traveling to Canada.
According to the revised rules by the government in Canada, people travelling from India should take an RT-PCR test from a third country. Direct entry to Canada and USA is banned for passengers travelling from India. Students have been spending around Rs 1.4 lakh on air tickets and for staying in Belgrade for getting an RT-PCR.
The news got immense attention when one of the passenger took to Twitter to ask for help. “ Important- do not transit through Serbia as they have out-rightly denied entry to transiting Indians for less than 7 days. Read the travel advisory before flying even at the last minute and confirm from flight carrier about travel and transition to avoid emergency situations,” The passenger wrote.
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The Indian embassy in Serbia sent their own officials to get the passengers RT-PCRs done and fly them to their destinations as soon as possible. “ Out of 205 stranded Indians at Belgrade airport, 120 are traveling today by Lufthansa. Indians travelling by other airlines will fly today or tomorrow. Embassy officials are in touch with the airport authorities/ airlines to ensure dep of all Indians. Our officials have gone to the airport to help the passengers in the nest possible manner,” said the Embassy officials.