Check Credit Score
Check Credit Score
HomeNewsTrendsHealth

Coronavirus lockdown | Stranded in India, Ghana footballer spends 72 days at Mumbai airport

With help from CISF, housekeeping and security staff, 23-year-old footballer Randy Juan Muller lived at the Mumbai airport for two-and-half months.

June 06, 2020 / 04:41 PM IST
MIAL (Representative Image)

MIAL (Representative Image)

A stranded 23-year-old footballer from Ghana, Randy Juan Muller, had to spend 72 days at Mumbai airport after the government cancelled all international flights to and from India. Muller had come to India to play for a sports club in Kerala.

After spending two-and-half months at the airport, Muller was taken from the airport to a hotel in Bandra. According to reports, he was living at the Mumbai airport since March 21 as he was not able to fly home.

The footballer came to India in November 2019 to play for ORPC Sports Club in Kerala. “I came here on a six-month visa. We only get around Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 per match. I hardly played any matches and had spent around Rs 1.5 lakh for visa and tickets," Muller said sharing his ordeal.

"After the lockdown was announced in India, I planned to return home and even bought a flight ticket for March 30 from Mumbai to Ghana via Kenya. But before I could return, the government cancelled all international flights and I was stuck here," he added.

Muller said Andheri police told him to go to the airport after he could not find a dormitory. With help from CISF, housekeeping and security staff, he lived at the Mumbai airport for 72 days.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

View more
How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

View more
Show

Many travellers who were on the rescue flights saw Muller and gave him food, money and books too. One of the passengers gave me a book called 'Be Your Own Therapist'. It saved me from depression, he said, adding that a CISF jawan at the airport gave him a phone and asked him to tweet to ask for help.


Muller's tweet gained traction and was eventually seen by Shiv Sena Minister Aaditya Thackeray, who directed a Yuva Sena functionary to shift him to a hotel.


"When Aaditya saw his tweet, he told us to help Muller. We have shifted him to a hotel in Bandra, where he will stay until the restrictions on international travel is lifted," said Rahul Kanal, a Yuva Sena functionary.

Follow our full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak here

Moneycontrol News
first published: Jun 6, 2020 04:41 pm

Discover the latest business news, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!

Advisory Alert: It has come to our attention that certain individuals are representing themselves as affiliates of Moneycontrol and soliciting funds on the false promise of assured returns on their investments. We wish to reiterate that Moneycontrol does not solicit funds from investors and neither does it promise any assured returns. In case you are approached by anyone making such claims, please write to us at grievanceofficer@nw18.com or call on 02268882347