Hundreds of Indian students stranded in the UK have appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to organise a rescue flight amid the ongoing travel ban enforced by India to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

A group of at least 380 students from India has started a data chain with their passport details to create a collective voice to lobby the Indian government for action.

Among them is a group of marine engineers from Kerala enrolled at the South Tyneside College in Tyne and Wear in northeast England. They were due to fly back to India after taking their management-level exams this week.

“Our exams were supposed to take place on March 23 and 24, but got cancelled on the 23rd after we got the question paper at the exam centre, by which time India’s travel ban was in place,” said

Akhil Dharmaraj, a first engineer with NYK Ship Management.

He and other mariners in a similar situation have no information about the rescheduling of their exams as they remain in self-isolation in shared apartments and hostels, stepping out only to buy essentials from supermarkets where they are faced with long queues and empty shelves.

“I have information from Cochin airport that recently a flight with Indian nationals landed from Sydney. Indians have been evacuated from other countries around the world as well but we are not sure why we have been abandoned and how we can make our voice heard to Prime

Minister Modi,” said Dharmaraj, 32, who has a three-year-old daughter back home in Kochi.

The UK home office recently said foreign students or professionals on visas that had expired or would expire soon would be given an extension at least till May 31.