Australian that lost mum in Colombia crash stranded with ‘nothing left’

Silvia Castelblanco is desperate to return home after rushing overseas when her mother was tragically killed in a car crash, but it’s almost an impossible task.

Exclusive: A grief-stricken Australian who rushed to Colombia when her mother was killed in a car crash is stuck overseas with “nothing left” after international arrivals caps were halved and her flight home was cancelled.

Silvia Castelblanco, 32, from Melbourne, was granted an exemption to leave and return to Australia – where she has lived for the past eight years as a permanent resident – on compassionate grounds after she received the devastating news that her mum, Aurora Forero, had died suddenly in May.

She was supposed to return on July 21 but her flight from Bogota was cancelled at the last minute as the Australian government halved international arrival numbers in a bid to contain Covid outbreaks.

Silvia Castelblanco, 32 from Melbourne, and her mum Aurora Forero who died in a car crash in Colombia. Picture: Supplied

Ms Castelblanco paid about $A4300 for her original flight but the few now available are selling for an average of $A15,000 one-way due to soaring demand and limited capacity – and that’s “unaffordable”.

Ms Castelblanco, who took two month’s unpaid leave from her marketing job, is now one of at least 35,000 Australians stranded overseas facing financial and emotional ruin, and with no indication of when or how they will get home.

Some are close to being homeless and stand to lose much more, because they aren’t earning an income and can’t afford the exorbitant flights home.

“I am struggling financially being unable to work,” she said.

“The longer it takes to get back, the harder it will take for me to get back on my feet.”

Silvia Castelblanco, left, pictured with her mum, has had flights cancelled because of arrivals caps in Australia. Picture: Supplied

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) spokesperson said the government “continues to work hard to assist Australians return by helping them to access scheduled commercial flights within passenger caps and through organising facilitated commercial flights, prioritising vulnerable Australians”.

Ms Castelblanco said she has reached out to DFAT but hasn’t yet received a response.

Meanwhile, her expenses and bills continue to pile up and she expects to lose her job if she’s not back soon.

The torment of not knowing what her future holds while trapped on the other side of the world has already taken an “enormous toll” on Ms Castelblanco, who is still gripped with grief over the loss of her mum.

Silvia says she has not received a response from DFAT. Picture: Supplied

“I thought about the consequences of travelling due to Covid, but I couldn’t bear to stay far away from my family … (the loss of a parent) is unbelievably hard to deal with on your own,” she said.

“Losing my mum has taken away part of my life as it was, and it will never be the same.

“The pain, the anger, the feeling of losing her is unbearable sometimes, but I must keep on moving forward.

“I want to go back to Australia to start over as I have everything back there including my dog who is waiting for me. I have no future in Colombia.

“I just want to get back home.”

Originally published as Australian that lost mum in Colombia crash stranded with ‘nothing left’