Bhubaneswar: Several Odia students were booked on the Air India flight which returned empty on Thursday morning after Ukraine closed its airspace. Air India flight AI1947, bound for Kyiv to bring back Indians, turned back midflight to Delhi.
With Kyiv airport closed, many Odia students who had reached the airport to catch the flight were told to go back to their hostels. Scared and running short of essential items, including water, their only hope now is the Indian Embassy in Kyiv to arrange their evacuation as early as possible.
“The present situation in Ukraine is highly uncertain. Please maintain calm & remain safe wherever you are,” the Indian Embassy advised.
In Odisha, worried parents urged the Centre and the state government to act swiftly to bring back the students.
“I spoke to my son around 8.30 am today morning. He said everything was normal last night. But they heard of a missile strike in his city around 5 am local time there. They are all very scared since then,” the father of Sai Swaroop Tripathy, a final-year MBBS student in Ukraine, said in Titlagarh.
“Kyiv airport is closed. We were asked to go back to our hostels,” another Odia student said, as he prepared to leave the airport.
Pratik Dhal, a second-year MBBS student, was lucky. He was able to board a special Air India flight from Kharkiv city and arrived in Delhi on Wednesday night.
Dhal, a student of Kharkiv National Medical University, said about 1,000 Odia students are studying in Ukraine. About 500-600 have returned. “There is panic everywhere. Students in hostels have been told electricity could go anytime. They are trying to store as much water as they can,” he said.
“My friends in Kharkiv heard explosions. They shared a video of a shaking window. I also saw over a video call how locals were fleeing the city,” he said.
Prasanjeet Pattnaik from Sambalpur said from Kharkiv, “The situation is very bad. We heard explosions. Malls and banks are closed. Water is in short supply. WiFi has become unreliable. We are all very scared. We appeal to the Indian Embassy to get us out of the place as quickly as possible.”
Aryaman Abhishek from Cuttack is also stranded. An MBBS student in Ukraine for the last six years, his parents, Amiya Bhushan Biswal and Aruna Jyoti, who spoke to him on Wednesday night, urged the government to bring their son back safely.
MBBS student Alok Samal from Angul is also stuck after Russia attacked Ukraine. So is Pralay Kumar Nayak from Jajpur, an MBBS student at Kharkiv National Medical University.
Barsharani Dalai said, “We heard sounds of shelling and blasts. We are scared.”
“We are safe at the moment but don’t know what will happen tomorrow. We are in hostels and waiting for the Indian government to evacuate us,” Dalai, who went to Ukraine to study in December last year, added.
Another student from Nabarangpur is also stranded in Ukraine. Sourav Sahu, the son of Subas Sahu belonging to Anchalgumma village under Tentulikhunti block, had gone to pursue medical studies in the European country. Sourav, who was in final year of his course, had booked a flight ticket to come to India on March 9.
Speaking to his family over phone, Sourav said he was hearing explosion of missiles in the city where he is staying and was feeling threat to his life. He was also in contact with Indian embassy there for his safe return to India, he added.
Sourav Sahu
Suprit Swain is stranded in Vinnytsia city. He is an MBBS student at Vinnytsia National University. Sunyasatta Satpathy, another Odia student, said, “At 5.30 am we were informed about the war. We were asked to move to the nearest bunker or metro.”
Air India flight AI1947 turned back to Delhi after Ukraine closed its airspace to civilian flights.
Earlier, a special flight from Ukraine landed in Delhi with 182 Indians, including students, the second operated by Air India to bring back Indians. The first flight on February 22 brought back around 240 Indians.
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