A few students who returned home from war-torn Ukraine recalled their ordeal they endured before they crossed the borders to reach Poland.
Chandan Gowda of Kodagu who returned to his native town of Kushalnagar said they took a chance and ventured out of the bunkers to reach the railway station despite tremendous risk it posed to their lives.
Chandan Gowda, a student of Kharkiv National Medical University, was among the few students who returned early on Friday and he said that the journey from Kharkiv by train was traumatic. It was a 16-hour journey spent standing in an overcrowded train packed with people fleeing the Russian artillery attack and bombardment.
‘’It was pure luck that we could board the train and chances were higher if it was a small group of two to three or four students. Again, if one were squeezed among the passengers in the middle of the coach, then the chances of being transported to the borders were great’’, said .Chandan recalling his journey.
‘’But if one were standing near the door, such passengers – especially non-Ukrainians – would be pulled out at the next station to accommodate Ukrainians who too were fleeing their country’’, said Likith, a native of Kodagu pursuing MBBS in Kharkiv National Medical University.
But on crossing the border and entering Poland they were taken care of and the Indian Embassy staff had arranged for their accommodation, food and flight back home, said the two students whose parents were relieved after their safe return.
There are many more stranded in Ukraine and some of the students wrote to the Indian Embassy and suggested that those holed up in bunkers and metro stations in Kharkiv should be evacuated to the Russian border which was just about 60 km to 80 km away, said Likith who had left Kharkiv on Monday, a day before the Indian Embassy issued an advisory asking all Indian nationals to leave Kharkiv by 6 p.m. local time.
Meanwhile, another student Mukunda also returned from Kharkiv and joined his parents in Mysuru.
