As many as 14 students of the Panjab Engineering College (PEC) who were interning in Germany and got stuck there due to international flights being suspended amid the Covid-19 pandemic, will be brought back to India in an Air India flight on Friday.
PEC director Dheeraj Sanghi said, “Some students had gone there to complete their sixth semester. They contacted me and said they want to come back fearing the present global scenario.”
“Earlier, only students coming back to Chandigarh were being accepted into the flight as the evacuation is being done location-wise. After that, we wrote to the Indian Embassy and UT administration and asked if students can fill in PEC’s hostels as their addresses. Then, the students were accepted for evacuation,” Sanghi said.
Father of 20-year-old Gurpreet Singh, Bhag Singh Kairon, said his son went to KIT Germany in January to complete his sixth semester of industrial training.
“However, within two months, the situation across the globe deteriorated amid the Covid-19 pandemic and international flights were suspended,” he said.
“The internship was supposed to end in July. However, we decided to ask our son to come back as soon as international flights resume. The university also co-operated and completed their training by May 25. On Wednesday, they were given all documentary proof and certification,” Kairon said.
{{/usCountry}}“The internship was supposed to end in July. However, we decided to ask our son to come back as soon as international flights resume. The university also co-operated and completed their training by May 25. On Wednesday, they were given all documentary proof and certification,” Kairon said.
{{/usCountry}}The students will board the Air India flight from Germany to India on Friday. The flight will land in Delhi following which they will be given an option to quarantine in locations specified by the UT administration.
Germany is one of the worst-hit countries by the pandemic with over 1.8 lakh cases reported so far.