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Swedish backpacker found dead in India

A 24-year-old Swedish woman has died in India after she reportedly became ill following a meal with friends while on holiday.

Published: 15 October 2012 07:15 CEST

The woman died on Saturday in Goa, western India, where she had been backpacking with friends for the previous three days.

After eating lunch with her travelling companions, she told them she was feeling unwell, complaining of chest pains and having trouble breathing.

“They were sitting on the beach for a while and the others told her that she could go home as she wasn’t feeling well,” said inspector Pedneker of the Pernem police in Goa to the Aftonbladet newspaper.

Eventually, the whole group went back together to the hostel to rest, at which point the 24-year-old Swede fell asleep and was snoring loudly, according to the paper.

However, at around 4.30am her friends noticed that the Swede was no longer breathing and they alerted emergency services. Police officers and paramedics arrived on the scene, although they were unable to save the woman’s life.

The Swedish foreign ministry has confirmed the death and the woman’s family has been notified.

“She was the nicest daughter, sister and friend. No one else has a heart as big as hers. She was straightforward, thoughtful and fair and truly cared about everyone around her,” the woman’s mother told the paper.

Local police do not suspect any crime, and it remains unknown whether the 24-year-old was poisoned by the food she ate. Nevertheless, an investigation has been launched to determine the exact cause of death.

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Travel: Spain imposes mandatory quarantine on arrivals from India over virus strain fears

Photo: JACK GUEZ/AFP

Spanish government spokesperson María Jesús Montero made the announcement on Tuesday, explaining that as there are no direct flights between Spain and India, it isn’t possible for Spain to adopt measures such as banning arrivals outright as other European countries have done.

The quarantine requirement for travellers arriving to Spain from India starts on May 1st 2021.

India joins a number of South American and African nations that are already on Spain’s quarantine list to stem the spread of the Brazilian and South African variants.

According to the Spanish government’s website, those “coming from the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Republic of South Africa, Republic of Botswana, Union of Comoros, Republic of Ghana, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Mozambique, United Republic of Tanzania, Republic of Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe, Republic of Peru and Republic of Colombia, must remain in quarantine for 10 days after their arrival in Spain, or for the duration of their stay if it is shorter than that. This period may end earlier, if on the seventh day the person is tested for acute infection with negative results.”

India is currently battling a record-breaking rise in Covid-19 infections that has overwhelmed hospitals and led to severe bed and oxygen shortages.

A key question is whether a new variant with potentially worrying mutations – B.1.617 – is behind what is currently the world’s fastest-growing outbreak, setting four records in a row for the highest daily coronavirus infections by one country, the latest on Sunday with 349,691 new cases.

The country has also been recording around 3,000 deaths per day from Covid-19.

Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Italy and the Netherlands have all imposed restrictions or travel bans on arrivals from India in recent days.

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“No cases of the Indian variant have been detected to date to my knowledge,” Spain’s Emergencies Coordinator Chief Fernando Simón told journalists on Monday.

“The intel does not indicate that we have to worry about it,” he added, given that the UK variant now makes up 94 percent of all infections in Spain.

“We cannot rule out that a case (of the Indian variant) may be detected”, Simón admitted, but “so far it is not a variant of concern, it is a variant of interest”.

Patients breath with the help of oxygen masks inside a banquet hall temporarily converted into a Covid-19 coronavirus ward in New Delhi on April 27th, 2021. (Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP)

That is not a view shared by Amós José García Rojas , president of the Spanish Association of Vaccinations (AEV), who argues “we have to worry a lot” about the “chaos” that this new variant is leaving in the Asian country and why it could affect the spread of this strain of the virus.

“This new variant is fundamentally worrying because of what it is causing in India,” Rojas told medical publication Redacción Médica.

“It shows that as there are territories where people are largely not vaccinated, there’s many people who are susceptible to the virus and it creates a breeding ground for the development of new variants”.

“We cannot vaccinate comprehensively in some countries and forget about other countries at the mercy of God.

“We have to worry about everyone because there is a risk that situations like the one seen in India will happen again.

So far, the B.1.617 variant has been categorised by the World Health Organisation as a “variant of interest”.

Other variants detected in Brazil, South Africa and the UK have been categorised as “of concern”, because they are more transmissible, virulent or might reduce antibody efficacy.

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