A family from Udaipur subdivision in Gomati district of Tripura, stranded in Chennai since the lockdown was imposed on March 25, travelled 3,213km in an ambulance to return home in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.

The family reached home late on Sunday night and was put under home quarantine.

Chanchal Majumder, who returned with his wife Ashima Biswas Majumder from Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, in the ambulance, told The Telegraph on Monday that they rushed back home since their daughter’s marriage is scheduled for May 8.

“We went to Chennai on March 22 for treatment of my wife. When we entered the airport we heard that people were humming about the lockdown and we had our return flight on March 27 but meanwhile, the lockdown was announced and we were stranded there,” Majumder said.

Majumder’s wife is an athletics coach and a sports stadium in-charge at Udaipur. His wife underwent a brain tumour surgery in September last year. They visited Chennai on March 22 for a scheduled check-up. His daughter’s marriage was fixed for May 8 and that is the reason they had to rush to the home.

“We shall have to defer it now but even then we had to return to work out things with the groom’s family. Also my wife had an operation at Apollo Hospitals. So, we decided to return despite the risks,” he added.

Majumder, who is a retired deputy director of the sports and youth affairs department, said they again bought a ticket for April 15 because the first lockdown was supposed to be lifted after April 14 but unfortunately it was extended once again till May 3.

“My daughter was at home alone. It was impossible to pay a much higher price to the hotel and it would be impossible for us to pay further if the lockdown extended further. We met another family who had travelled from Tripura to Chennai and was stranded there. We decided to take an ambulance and return,” he said. The other family had a heart patient and her husband.

They were accompanied by an attendant.

Majumder said Rs 1.4 lakh had been spent throughout the journey of five days.

“There are many families of Tripura stranded there. Many of them are not getting food there, they are trying to figure out some way and trying to return as per their capacity,” he said.

After getting all the clearance from the doctor, hospital and local police station, both the families boarded the ambulance and after travelling more than 3,000km, they reached late on Sunday night.

“The ambulance was stopped at each entry and exit points of all states during our journey. However, I felt checking at Odisha, Meghalaya and Tripura borders were the most strict”, Ashima said.

She said as soon as they reached Tripura they were shifted to an institutional quarantine centre at Udaipur.

Two cases of Covid-19 positive patients were identified at Tripura so far, out of whom one has already recovered and was released. The other patient is under treatment at GB Pant Hospital in Agartala.