Parents relieved as flights deliver stranded students

New Delhi: Anxious parents breathed easy when three evacuation flights their wards from Ukraine to Delhi airport on Sunday morning. Ukraine closed their airspace on Thursday as Russia crossed their borders. This forced an Air India flight to turn back mid-flight.

Since then the airlines have operated three flights out of Romanian capital Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest. The first evacuation flight delivered 229 people from Bucharest to Mumbai on Saturday evening. At around 2.45 am, the second aircraft brought back 250 Indians to Delhi from the Romanian capital.

The third plane reached a couple of hours late at 9.20 am, rescuing 240 students, mostly from the western city of the Uzhhorod, which remains largely unaffected by the war. Several states have established help desks and provided transport services from the Delhi airport to their homes. Abhijeet Kumar, a medical student, said: “There is no violence in the west but we faced a lot of problems.

Prices of groceries shot up and there was panic-buying.” Meanwhile, Rajasthan’s Women and Child Development Minister Mamta Bhupesh received eight woman students from the state who arrived in Jaipur via Romania. “We are happy that due to the efforts of the Rajasthan government, our girls have been able to come back,” Bhupesh said.

Congress leader Pratap Singh Bajwa shared a video on Twitter showing Indian students stranded in Kyiv. “@narendramodi ji I have received desperate calls for help from Indian students stranded in Kyiv, Ukraine. They are in need of food and to be evacuated from the city immediately. There are 174 students who have taken shelter in School No. 169, Kyiv, right next to Embassy of India,” Bajwa tweeted.

Meena Sharma from Sonipat, whose daughter is a fourth-year student in Kharkiv, said: “They are not getting any help there. We are having sleepless nights here. Our gover nment should take them to a safer place and bring them back to India safely.” Chandigarhnative Simran Dogra who is stuck in Kharkiv said in a video call: “We pray when there are air raid sirens and shelling.” – PTI