Bracknell trio stranded in Bali amid coronavirus lockdown

Brother and sister Kathryn and Louis Hayes, from Birch Hill, and friend Marli Holland, from Sandhurst, are stuck on the Indonesian holiday island with no way back home.

READ MORE: Coronavirus tracker -- how many cases are there in Bracknell?

The trio cannot get a flight out of Bali after Indonesian authorities started turning people away from airports earlier this week due to fears about the spread of coronavirus.

Kathryn, a 24-year-old fine art graduate, told the News: “There’s no way back, no one’s helping us and we don’t know what to do.

Kathryn (left) and Louis (right)

“We are stranded.

“Thank god we’re all together -- I would hate to be alone right now.”

Calls for help from the UK embassy in Indonesia and from back home have so far fallen on deaf ears.

READ MORE: Italian restaurant creates hilarious delivery promo video

Kathryn, Louis and Marli are just three of hundreds of Brits stuck in Bali who have been told they cannot fly out due to travel restrictions in connecting countries such as Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.

The group were travelling through Vietnam two weeks ago before being “booted out” by the authorities there.

They travelled to Bali after hearing the island had reported few cases of Covid-19 but after staying there a week tours and excursions started to get cancelled and the trio “started to panic.”

Marli

Flights out of Bali for the following five days had surged in price several thousands of pounds and airports are currently closed for the Balinese ‘day of silence’ -- complicating matters for the travelling trio further.

Kathryn, who has been travelling through South East Asia with her brother since January, added: “We can’t get any help right now when we need it the most.”

READ MORE: The best and worst of the latest food hygiene ratings from across Bracknell Forest

The trio have also struggled to communicate with some Vietnamese and Indonesian natives in the past few weeks after rumours spread a British man had brought the virus to the island.

They  told the News a handful of locals were hiding from the group, restaurants would not serve them and shops would not let them in because people “they thought white people were carrying it around.”

This has made it hard to find out new information from people.

Louis, 19, told the News: “It’s stressful, frustrating. We’re stuck in a foreign country where no one can speak English.

“We’re just here like aliens.

“Everywhere is shutting, there are no people to help you.

“They don’t want to speak to us.”

READ MORE: How teachers turned around this school's fortunes

The News understands Bracknell MP James Sunderland has been in touch with Kathryn to follow-up on the group’s situation with the Foreign Office.

But with little other help coming forward, home seems like a long way away for the trio.

Marli, 22, said: “When I got to Bali I thought it was all going to be alright.

“When the tours got cancelled I knew it was getting very serious.

“We are all just looking forward to getting home.”