Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday urged the stranded Kerala students in Ukraine to heed the advice of the Indian embassy in Ukraine which advised the students to leave the capital city of Kyiv immediately via available trains or any other mode of transportation available.
The embassy on Tuesday tweeted that “all Indian nationals, including students, are advised to leave Kyiv urgently today. Preferably by available trains or through any other means available.”
Meanwhile, two Indigo special flights successfully airlifted 53 Malayali students from Bucharest in Romania and Budapest in Hungary under ‘Operation Ganga’ to New Delhi and Mumbai airports on Tuesday, taking the total number of Keralites evacuated so far to 184.
While expressing grief over the death of a medical student from Karnataka in Ukraine, Mr. Vijayan said “it was unfortunate that Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, , ho was standing in a queue for food in Ukraine’s Kharkiv this morning, was killed in Russian shelling. We should stand with the families to face the situation with great patience. Thousands of Indians are stranded in Ukraine and various agencies have been trying their level best to bring them back to safety”.
As many as 184 people were successfully airlifted with the coordination of the Indian embassy in Ukraine, Ministry of External Affairs and NoRKA-Roots. “We have been trying to bring all the stranded Indians back to safety and at this point of time, the people should depend on the official announcements and we should be able to provide hope to those around us without creating panic,” he said in a Facebook post.
While announcing that the government had made arrangements to receive the evacuees in Mumbai and New Delhi airports and bring them back to Kerala, Mr. Vijayan said a special team had been assigned for this purpose at Kerala House. A joint secretary at Kerala House secretariat had been appointed as Kerala House protocol officer and given the charge of liaison officer. Those who had not registered yet should register at ukraineregistration.norkaroots.org or inform Norka roots control number 1800 425 3939.
Among the airlifted 47 Malayali students on Tuesday, steps have been taken to bring 11 to Kannur airport, 20 to Kochi airport, and 16 to Thiruvananthapuram airport on Tuesday itself. A total of 36 students who reached on Monday in New Delhi were brought back to Kerala on Tuesday. So far, 152 Malayali students were evacuated through New Delhi airport and 32 students through Mumbai airport, said a release from NoRKA-Roots.
