KOTTAYAM: “Please arrange evacuation flights as early as possible. The Indian government should act fast to save our lives,” urged Hena Sonny Kalathil, a Kottayam native, who is now a medical student in Kyiv in Ukraine, which is being invaded by Russia.
Like Hena, a third-year student of the Bogomolets National Medical University in Kyiv, around 2,000 medical students from Kerala and many from across India studying in universities in Kyiv are either stuck in hostel rooms, airports or in shelters. “We have been trying to book flights for the past two weeks but we couldn’t due to the high demand and excess fares,” Hena said.
After the war began, all airports were closed. “The embassy has asked us to remain in our hostel rooms. We have food and water remaining for only three-four days,” she said. Once Russia began its military operation, most of the Indian students realized that their return to home was uncertain and they stocked food items and drinking water.
“There was heavy rush in the shops and everything was sold out within hours. We do not know what to do once our stock gets over. The students had stocked drinking water, noodles, bread and biscuits. We are being told that we will be shifted to an underground shelter in the hostel building if the war goes out of control. We are hoping that we will be evacuated before such a situation emerges,” Hena said.
Hena’s father Sonny Joseph said that he spoke to Dr Seemesh Sasidharan, a Kollam native, who has been teaching at the university for the past 23 years. “Seemesh had seen the missile attack on the military barrack and the arms depot near Kiev on Thursday morning. I was also told that following this attack, the evacuation flight from India had to return and the students who had arrived at the airport to board the flight were left stranded at the airport,” said Sonny, who is running a garment shop in Kottayam.
Sonny, who had worked with Saudi Air defence, was confident that the current situation in Ukraine will not lead to total war. “I have told the parents of other students not to panic. This will not lead to a total war,” he said.
Kollam native Krishnaveni Rajendran, another third-year student in the Bogomolets University, fears disruption of the internet. The parents of these students have formed WhatsApp groups and they have urged their children not to panic if the internet connection is affected. She said that the first and second year students of the varsity had left early and the third-year students had to remain in Kyiv as they had to appear for a national exam. “Only if we clear this exam, we could get promoted to the fourth year,” she said.
Krishnaveni said that the airline companies started hiking the ticket fare when panicked students started leaving the country. “The ticket fare, which was around Rs 30,000, suddenly doubled to Rs 60,000. Many found it unaffordable and decided to stay back,” she said. “Even on Wednesday night before going to sleep, we thought there won’t be any war. Many of us were awakened by the phone calls from parents back home who passed the information that the war had started,” she said.
