E-Paper
Indonesia’s acting envoy to India succumbs to Covid-19
Indonesia’s BeritaSatu news channel had reported on May 19 that Piay was being treated at a hospital after being infected with Covid-19
Indonesia’s chargé d’affaires in New Delhi, Ferdy Piay, who was airlifted home after contracting Covid-19, died in Jakarta on Tuesday night, people familiar with developments said on condition of anonymity.
Piay is the second senior member of the diplomatic community in New Delhi to die amid a devastating second wave of Coronavirus infections sweeping across the country. Col Moses Beatus Mlula, defence advisor at the high commission of Tanzania, died at a military hospital in New Delhi on April 28.
Indonesia’s former envoy to India, Sidharto Suryodipuro, tweeted late on Tuesday: “With sadness but also with profound gratitude of our many memories working together that I bid farewell to a good friend and wonderful colleague, Ferdy Piay, Chargé d’Affaires of @KBRI_NewDelhi. May he now rest in peace. Om Shanti.”
Piay contracted Covid-19 in Delhi last month and was initially treated in the Indian capital. He was airlifted to Jakarta on April 27 after his condition deteriorated, the people cited above said.
Also Read | Delhi reports fewest Covid deaths since mid-April
Indonesia’s BeritaSatu news channel had reported on May 19 that Piay was being treated at a hospital after being infected with Covid-19. It quoted Indonesia’s consul general in Mumbai, Agus Prihatin Saptono, as saying that Piay was under treatment.
There was no official word from the Indian side on the developments.
Piay was a career diplomat who served as director for South and Central Asia and director general for Asia Pacific and Africa at Indonesia’s foreign ministry. He was among the group of diplomats that toured the facilities of Indian vaccine manufacturers in Hyderabad last December.
BeritaSatu channel also cited data from Indonesia’s foreign ministry to report that 130 Indonesian citizens had contracted Covid-19 in India, and 117 recovered while 10 were in a stable condition. Three Indonesians had died, the report said.
The total number of Indonesian citizens in India was 798, the report added.
The people cited above said there were reports of Indian staff and junior diplomats testing positive at several foreign missions, including those of the Philippines, New Zealand, Germany, Thailand, Vietnam, Palestine, the US, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. Several missions have airlifted sick diplomats home for treatment.
