Fleeing coronavirus: Aussie’s Bollywood-assisted miracle escape from India thanks to star Kunickaa Sadanand

It reads like a movie script: a chance brush with fame, a dash for the last flight out of India, and a real-life Bollywood ending.

Sydney woman Nicole Burfitt-Williams (right), 26, pictured with a friend, managed to escape from India before the planes were stopped. She received help from a former Bollywood actress called Kunickaa Sadanand.

Sydney woman Nicole Burfitt-Williams got on the last Emirates flight out of New Delhi with the help of a Bollywood actor she met in a bar.

The 26-year-old businesswoman, who was in India for a wedding, said a sense of panic had begun to set in among travellers before her “miracle” escape on Friday night before tough coronavirus travel bans were imposed.

“No one knew exactly what was going on. It was a constantly stressed and anxiety-filled trip. I was getting so many different messages from different people,” she told The Australian from the NSW South Coast, where she is currently self-isolating.

“I called the Australian High Commission in Delhi and they just said ‘Unfortunately we can't really help you at this stage, you need to contact your airline’.

“I was just really worried. I thought I'm running out of money and the government isn't giving me any help.

Ms Burfitt-Williams said she couldn’t get through to Emirates, which had closed its Indian support centre.

But a conversation with Indian actor and TV personality Kunickaa Sadanand at the Taj Hotel bar in Mumbai proved to be a lifeline. Sadanand had been at the hotel filming a TV segment on the coronavirus.

Star saviour

“We kind of hit it off and I was telling her about my life and while I was in India and how I was starting my own business and what my background was,” Ms Burfitt-Williams said.

“We just became friends. And she said ‘Listen, I can tell you're a bit stressed, here's my number. If you get into any trouble, send me a message’.

Indian actor Kunickaa Sadanand. Picture: Supplied

“So when everything started hitting the fan I reached out to her. She said ‘I know the head of Emirates’. The next thing I know she got on the phone and people started contacting me.”

She got the green light from the airline to go to the airport, but was blocked from entry by security officers when she arrived.

“They wouldn't let me in without a valid ticket, because my ticket was for the 22nd (Sunday).

“So the chief security officer of Emirates had to call up an army person so I could get into the airport.”

That night, after making her way through long lines, temperature and security checks, she boarded a flight to Dubai. She returned to Sydney on a connecting flight.

Ms Burfitt-Williams said before she left India, the hotel manager said many guests had tried to get out but had their flights cancelled while they were sitting on the tarmac.

A fellow traveller booked four flights out, all of which were cancelled.