Overview
- Dr Amin Sama, an assistant professor from Bhuj who had been stuck in Goma for nearly a month, was granted transit and travel permissions and is scheduled to fly back to India on Thursday, June 18.
- His travel was disrupted after he travelled to Goma from Kigali on May 15 and Rwanda closed its border with the DRC on May 17, leaving him unable to return to Kigali and forcing him to miss a May 31 flight home.
- The Gujarat State Non-Resident Gujarati Foundation (NRGF/NSGF) escalated the case on June 10 and coordinated daily with the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Rwanda to obtain the legal and procedural clearances.
- Dr Sama told officials he had not visited known Ebola-affected zones, was asymptomatic, and consented to any required medical screening, quarantine, or immigration checks before travel.
- The case highlights how subnational rescue mechanisms, working with diplomatic missions, handle health-driven travel disruptions and the practical costs and uncertainty such closures can impose on stranded travellers.