“Initially, we were told that there was no threat of war. But all of a sudden it broke out and as war escalated, we had no hope of returning to our motherland alive. We still shudder as we recall the developments in Ukraine,” this is all the four students who managed to cross the Ukraine border risking their lives had to say on safely landing at the Hubballi Airport on Monday.
Devamane Milan of Dharwad, Najilla Gajipur of Hubballi, Sahana Patil of Sunaga village in Bilagi taluk of Bagalkot district and Vinayak Nyamagouda of Ainapur village in Belagavi district reached Hubballi on Monday.
They were received at the airport by Ladakh MP Amyang Tsering, tahsildars Shashidhar Madyal and Prakash Nashi and their parents.
Sahana Patil is still unable to come to terms with the death of Naveen Gyanagoudar, who was her classmate in the first year. “We together had gone to Kharkiv to pursue medical education and he was my classmate in the first year. I am in shock ever since Gyanagoudar was killed,“ she said.
Najilla Gajipur said she had had a harrowing experience as she spent eight days in a bunker along with other students to protect themselves from the continuous shelling. “The situation was horrifying and critical,” she recalled.
Although she has safely reached her native place now, Gajipur is worried about her future. She wants the Government, which helped her return home safely, to help continue her education. “I am worried about the future. I don’t know how I can continue my studies,” she said.
Nyamagouda said that they had to pay a price for neglecting the advisory issued by the Indian Embassy. “We were attending online classes and the college had no information. When we stepped out, we could see the destruction the war had caused. People are suffering a lot. We are still in shock. We somehow managed to reach a safe place,” he said.
The sound of bomb blasts still reverberates in the ears of Milan. “We heard the sound of a huge bomb blast which created panic among us. I still shudder as I recall the blast,” he said. During his last days he spent in Ukraine before crossing the border, Milan could hear the sound of bomb blasts at regular intervals. “I feel like returning from hell,” he recalled.
