Shillong/ Tura:
It was a happy homecoming for 20-year-old Ishika Debnath as she reunited with their families in Shillong, even as Tura’s Darcy Fiona Marak, the only Garo student studying in Kyiv Medical University, is headed towards Hungary border along with 20 other Indian students to try and leave war-torn Ukraine and return to the state, on February 28.
While Debnath boarded the Air India flight rescuing stranded Indian students in Ukraine and came back on Sunday afternoon, two other students of the state – 20-year old and Barityngkai Lyngdoh and 22-year-old Shavani Thapa, will soon follow suit.
“On Thursday, Russia went ballistic on Ukraine, quite literally. I was initially meant to catch a flight home on February 27; however, things did not go according to plan as the country shut its airspace and flights got cancelled. Later, when the Indian Embassy released an evacuation list with names of students, my name popped up in the second list,” says Debnath, the medical student of Bukovinian State Medical College, Chernivtsi, Ukraine.
Debnath said that the Indian Students’ Society at her varsity headed by one Pushpam made the necessary arrangements for the evacuation process.
“The journey to the Ukrainian-Romanian border was a lengthy and exhausting one. We had to wait for almost six hours for the Romanian bus to arrive, some 4 km ahead of the border. The busses were arranged by the authorities at the Embassy,” says Debnath, adding that the Indian Embassy had been very steadfast in its efforts to rescue stranded Indian students.
Expressing great concern over the grave situation still persisting in the eastern European country, she informed The Meghalayan that thousands of students are still stuck in her university. She also informed that presently, only girls are been allowed to crossover to Romania. “The boys are still stuck at the border,” she says.
Lyngdoh, who is studying medical at the Zaporizhzhya State Medical University, said that the situation is critical but she is safe in the University along with other 1500 Indian students. “It’s 12 hours journey to the border,” Lyngdoh said.
Saying that the Indian Embassy has communicated to the students about their evacuation, Thapa said, “Safe in the university hostel and will be travelling to Hungary border by tomorrow as per the list received from the Embassy.” Thapa is studying at the Uzhhorod National University at Uzhhorod city, in Ukraine.
Marak, however, wasn’t that lucky. “We are going to try the Hungary border first. If that does not work out, we’ll head towards the Romania border,” Marak told The Meghalayan. Expressing trepidation at the latter option, she stated that many Indians are stuck at the Romania border for the past three days because the Indian flight meant for their evacuation has not reached them yet.
Marak stated that their escape is being aided by Ukrainian citizens who have also been helping a lot of others to escape to safety. “The Indian embassy has not been receiving our calls so we have not received any help from them,” she said, adding that the situation is still worrisome in Kyiv.