Johannah, 5, was visiting her grandparents in Kerala state when the pandemic saw borders closed and flights cancelled [Source: BBC]

Dilin was unable to hold back his emotions when he talked about his young daughter, who he has not seen since November 2019.

“I can certainly see the sorrow in her heart… she truly misses us,” he told an Australian Senate committee on Friday.

Johannah, 5, is one of at least 173 unaccompanied children who are stuck in India trying to return to Australia.

She was staying with her grandparents when the pandemic struck and borders were closed.

Johannah’s parents tried to get her on government organised flights to Sydney but children younger than 14 are not allowed to travel alone on the repatriation trips.

Qantas, which operates flights between India and Australia, also does not allow unaccompanied minors, so the couple’s only other option is to charter a private plane or fly with Air India. However, until recently Johannah was still too young.

Drisya and Dilin did not risk trying to fly back to India to be with Johannah because of the limited flights to return to Australia from there.

The coupled feared they would join the 9,000 people in India struggling to get home to Australia.

Drisya and Dilin were finally able to get Johannah a seat on a chartered plane from Bangalore to Sydney, with a private company willing to take unaccompanied children.

It was due to arrive in Sydney on 6 May but that flight was also cancelled when the Australian government brought in a controversial ban on all arrivals from India.

“It was our last hope, we have exhausted all options,” Dilin told the BBC. “We literally fell apart. Sometimes you get a ray of hope, but then there’s a set back like this,” he said.

Drisya and Dilin told their story to an Australian Senate committee which is investigating the government’s efforts to help stranded Australians return home from India.

Drisya told the hearing that there were seven other unaccompanied children on the privately chartered flight. The couple, who have connected with families in similar situations on social media, say many of the children are very young – some even younger than Johannah.