Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Feb 8: The marriage of a would-be groom from Ullal, who works for a cruise ship, was arranged to be held on Monday February 10. However, the marriage has been put off indefinitely because of Coronavirus scare that has gripped the world.

Gaurav, son of Madhav Bangera from Kumpala-Ullal, works as a crew member for Chinese cruiser 'World Dream'. His marriage was planned to take place in the city on February 10. Gaurav was to reach the city on Friday as per earlier plans. But his ship was denied permission to end its cruise at the pre-determined destination. Therefore, the staff and the tourists are in a quandary. The ship is in Hong Kong now, and because of Coronavirus threat, all those on the ship have been detained inside the ship and kept on close observation. Thousands of people in this ship are now confined to the ship.

The cruiser named above had sailed off from China on January 26. It was to end its tour at Taiwan on February 5. But the ship was denied permission to offload tourists at Taiwan because of the fact that the ship had begun journey from China. The ship then travelled to Hong Kong where too they met with the same situation. The ship is currently anchored in the port area at Hong Kong. All the tourists have already been checked once and no Coronavirus infection was found. The ship has hundreds of staff and 1,600 tourists. As many as 80 among them are Indians.

All preparations for Gaurav's marriage were made, invitations had been distributed, all items were bought, hall was rented, and Mehndi programme was fixed for Sunday. The marriage has now been postponed as the groom is unable to reach his home in time.