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Ukraine crisis: 600 Indian students still stuck in Pisochyn, 300 leave for Romania border
300 Indian students holed up in a school in Pisochyn, a town located 12 km from Ukraine’s Kharkiv, got into buses and headed to Romania border, while 600 are still stuck as curfew was imposed
With dwindling ration supply and explosions around the premises, 300 Indian students currently holed up in a school in Pisochyn, a town located nearly 12 km away from Ukraine’s Kharkiv, have finally started to make an exit from the war zone, while nearly 600 are stuck as curfew was imposed while they were boarding the bus.
According to Ekamdeep from Kapurthala, a second-year MBBS student, a batch of nearly 300 students got into buses and headed to the Romania border, while buses have been arranged to ferry the next batch of nearly 600 students. They will proceed Saturday morning.
Additional director general of police (ADGP) MF Farooqui confirmed that only 300 students could leave while the remaining number of over 600 students will start their journey on Saturday.
He said the process was delayed and a curfew was imposed.
Earlier during the day, 80 students managed to board two buses after paying a heavy bribe.
Initially, it was planned that the trapped students would be evacuated from the Russian border.
Manan Gautam, a resident of Hoshiarpur and a second-year medical student, said, “We were told that 130 Russian buses are ready to evacuate Indian students and other foreigners from Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Sumy to Russia’s Belgorod region, but the information turned out to be wrong. As heavy shelling was taking place and any Russian bus would have become the target,” said Gautam.
It was on Tuesday that 900 Indian students, many of them from Punjab, had come under heavy shelling when they reached the Kharkiv railway station.
The students managed to reach a school in Pisochyn on foot. The embassy officials had said that the location of the school was shared with the Moscow and Ukraine authorities to avoid shelling in and around the premises.
“However, heavy shelling was witnessed around the school which triggered panic among students,” Tajpal Singh, an education consultant from Amritsar who is managing the journey of the student along with his son Karanpal, said.
Gurdaspur-based Shashi Bala, mother of Kartik Bawa, another medical college student said, “I have spoken to my son earlier on Friday. He told me that while nearly 300 students boarded the bus, the remaining students are still in school as a curfew was imposed.”
She said that the process was delayed as the bus operators were demanding an exorbitant amount from the students to evacuate them from the school.”
