Stranded in Beijing after losing his passport, Vishakhapatnam resident Salapu Shiva Kumar had to resort to sleeping in a KFC. A resident of Narava village, Shiva was noticed by a few people who run the 'Indians in China' group, who managed to arrange for accommodation as well as arrange money for food.
Indian who lost his passport is stuck in Beijing , sleeping at KFC for last some days without money & mobile number , Please provide urgent assistance to secure his exit visa and flight back home,Wechat id: bunny8686 @SushmaSwaraj @EOIBeijing @MEAIndia @PMOIndia pic.twitter.com/mQVBGCkCAN
— Indians in China (@indiansinchina) December 2, 2017
After securing a temporary visa, the group appealed to Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs to intervene and arrange his exit visa and flight for his journey back to India.
Responding to the plea, the Minister tagged the Indian Embassy in China to offer help and assistance to Shiva. Many Twitter users appreciated the effort.
— Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) December 2, 2017
Congrats madam, one of my friend says, now India has got one external affairs minister, who hearts their pleas and concern's. Good going. Good bless you. Jai hind.
— Naveen PN (@pn_naveen_) December 2, 2017
Generous, Kind Hearted, Simplicity all in one @SushmaSwaraj ji
— Adv Rajendraprasad Vundru (@expressideas) December 2, 2017
Congrats madam to your efforts. It is something remarkable to take action based on messages in twitter that too at a super fast rate
— SUBRAMANIAN SATHYAMURTHY (@sathyas100) December 2, 2017
Shiva will be visiting the Indian embassy on Monday for their assistance.
The details of how he lost the passport, mobile and money are yet to be known.
However, this is not the first time that Sushma Swaraj has aided people stranded in another country via social media.
In October, she helped a family stranded in Malaysia after they lost their passports. The family couldn’t visit the Indian embassy to procure a temporary visa since it was a public holiday. However, after being notified by one of the family members from India on Twitter, the minister promptly responded and offered assistance.
In 2016, for her proactive role to rescue and provide relief to the Indians, the Washington Post called her “Supermom of State.” The paper praised her efforts in evacuating the Indians stuck in a war zone in Yemen, and for helping Indians stranded abroad after losing their passports.
She also earned the nickname “the common tweeples leader” for her promptness in using Twitter to help the Indians, the paper had noted.