Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai (SHP)
Mumbai, Jun 7: Following the cancellation of international flights due to nationwide lockdown, a 23-year-old Ghanian footballer was stranded at Mumbai airport for 74 days. His stay at the airport has however now ended after Yuva Sena, the youth wing of Shiv Sena, provided him the much needed help.
Randy Juan Muller's situation was much similar to that of Tom Hank's character in the Hollywood movie, 'The Terminal'. The difference - Muller has received some respite when he was shifted to a local hotel, where he is awaiting the resumption of international flight operation.
The Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) also provided him with all necessary help, including food, and also allowed him to use the airport WiFi network to make calls, an official said.
Muller is a football player for a club in Kerala and was slated to fly home by Kenya Airways. Unfortunately for him, the lockdown and cancellation of flight found him stranded at the Mumbai airport.
"He would spend his time at the airport's fancy artificial gardens and somehow buy food from stalls and pass his time with the airport staff. Muller told me the airport staff was very helpful," Yuva Sena office-bearer Rahul Kanal said.
A security officer at the airport gave him a mobile phone to call his family back home.
A Twitter user brought Muller's plight to the notice of Maharashtra tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray. Soon after, the Yuva Sena leader Kanal reached out to the footballer and helped him move into a hotel.
On Saturday, Muller thanked Thackeray and Kanal for their help.
"Thank you, Aditya Thackeray, Rahul Kanal. Thank you very much. I appreciate what you have done. Salute," he said.
Kanal stated that the footballer became emotional and was humbled by the gesture. In a tweet, Kanal wrote that when he met Muller at the airport, the latter cried with happiness.
"Have no words to salute his willpower and fight for survival in such circumstances at this age," Kanal added.
An official at the Mumbai International Airport Ltd said the footballer was provided with all help.
"All personnel at the airport, including from MIAL and CISF, gave him every possible help during his stay at the airport. Besides food, he was also allowed to use the airport WiFi network to make calls. Airport staff would recharge his phone at their own expense," the official said.
The 2004 film 'Terminal' of Steven Spielberg was about a man stranded at a US airport after being denied entry into the country and a military coup back home.