23-year-old student returns to Mumbra home after a week’s ordeal at Ukraine border

After spending a week at the roadside in minus-7 deg C in Ukraine, 23-year-old Mumbra student finally returned to India; Khan claimed that he and thousands of other students were not allowed to enter the Romanian border as the Ukraine military first let the Ukraine nationals to cross the border

After spending a week at the roadside in minus-7 deg C in Ukraine, 23-year-old Mumbra student, Naushad Khan, finally returned to India. He could not express hisR relief enough after reuniting with his family.

The 23-year-old student, Naushad Khan (centre), is greeted by his family members upon returning to his Mumbra home following a week’s ordeal at Ukraine border. (PRAFUL GANGURDE/HT PHOTO)

Khan claimed that he and thousands of other students were not allowed to enter the Romanian border as the Ukraine military first let the Ukraine nationals to cross the border and hence they were stuck for two to three days at the border itself.

Khan is an MBBS student from Ternopil National Medical University in Ternopil city, 460km from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. He reached Mumbai on March 3 night. Remembering his seven days of ordeal, he said they were worse than anything he had ever imagined.

Khan said, “Since the war began in Ukraine, we were asking our university to relieve us with some assurance to let us come back to complete the course after the situation returned to normal. We were 1,500 students who wanted to return but they did not respond to our appeals. On February 24, we got a letter from the Indian Embassy to leave the university. There were siren sounds in the area and we ran towards the bunkers provided and stayed there for a few hours. We were then told to leave the university at our own risk, so we took the bus to the border.”

The normal five hours of bus journey to reach the Ukraine-Romania border took 12 to 14 hours due to traffic. After reaching the border, students weren’t allowed to enter the Romanian border for four days. They were in minus-7 deg C standing on the road hoping to enter the border.

Khan narrated, “We didn’t have enough food and there was only one cafe at the border. We initially thought that after walking for 8km to reach the border, we would be free but we got stuck again. The Ukraine soldiers first allowed their citizens to enter Romania and we were told to move aside. We could not even leave the queue to get tea.

“After three days of standing in the queue, only girls were allowed to enter the border. It once again scared us and we lost hope. We slept only for an hour so that we couldn’t miss our turn. Finally, on March 1, they allowed us to enter the border. At the airport, we met our minister and at that time, we slept for five hours and were waiting to come to India.”

Khan’s mother is a heart patient and he could not tell his ordeal to his family. His uncle, Nizam Khan, was the only one who knew about it.

“No one would understand the eagerness with which we wanted to return to India. So many times, we were left without security checks just because we were Indians. Even our bus was carrying our Indian flag, so no one stopped us,” added Khan.

His uncle added, “We are proud and happy to see our son back. We had never seen such a situation in our family. Several children are still stuck and we appeal to the government to bring them home safely.”