‘Please don’t think of financial costs… our lives are important’: Stranded students from Gujarat

Gujarat Minister Rajendra Trivedi spoke to some students in Ukraine from Gujarat over a video call, urging them to “stay together and offer courage to each other”.

Trivedi, who assured the students that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was holding meetings to ensure that Indians are safe in Ukraine, advised the students to “sit in corners of rooms” if the sirens go off.

In a video of the Minister speaking to the students, he is seen telling a bunch of female students, “You should be bold and offer each other courage. The government of India is taking steps to see what can be done… The government has already sent Air India flights but because the airspace was closed (due to the attack), sending flights at this point is not possible… So you have to be brave . In case you hear sirens going off, sit in corners of a room.”

Ayesha Shaikh, a student from Bharuch, put up a video stating that students who were stuck in Ukraine should be evacuated. Shaikh, a student from Ternopil in Ukraine, broke down as she said, “We had been telling the university and the Embassy of India to make a decision but neither did the university do anything in time nor did the Embassy pressurise the universities… Now there is martial law imposed, the silencers are going off and it is a state of emergency and we are stuck here… One of my roommates is from Rajasthan and another is from Madhya Pradesh and we do not know how should we exit this country safely because all flights have been cancelled. Our university has now told us that our classes will be held online… Please don’t think of the financial costs because our lives are important.”

Several Indian students were among those stuck at the Kyiv airport after Ukraine closed the airspace early Thursday morning.

On Wednesday night, Aditi Pandya, 19, and seven other first-year medical students from Bukovinian State Medical University (BSMU) in Chernivtsi set out to cover a distance of about 550 kilometers in seven hours to reach the Kyiv International Airport, from where they We were to travel to Istanbul on a Turkish airline and then to Abu Dhabi en route to New Delhi.

Aditi and two other classmates from Surendranagar were to head to Ahmedabad thereafter. But just as they arrived at the Kyiv airport, they learned that the Air India flight from New Delhi to Kyiv had been cancelled. Soon after, their Turkish airlines flight was also canceled and they were asked to vacate the airport, Aditi’s father, Ajay Pandya, told this newspaper.

Pandya, who hails from a village in Padra taluka of Vadodara district, said, “We are worried about the situation. So we had advised Aditi to return. Along with a few friends from the college, she had booked her tickets on multiple airlines to be able to arrive safely in India… I spoke to her at 3 am last on Thursday, she was waiting at the airport and the flight was showing scheduled for arrival… but in a matter of hours the situation changed and the country is at war. When I spoke to her de ella last around 4 pm, she told me they had boarded a bus sent by BSMU to bring them back to Chernvitsi. With the military action on, we are praying that the children safely make it to the university. Aditi assured me that the streets are still calm and the bus is moving ahead to the destination,” Pandya said.

Pandya, whose wife is an Aanganwadi staff in their village, says, “Aditi dreamed of becoming a doctor and Ukraine was the best option to pursue medical education. She traveled in December and her temporary resident card process is yet to be completed, but in the given situation, the government must bring back Indian students safely.”

Another parent, Paresh Patel, whose daughter Vrunda — a fifth-year medical student at BSMU — has decided to stay back is tensed at the sudden military attack initiated by Russia.

Patel said, “Although Chernvitsi has been safe so far and the students are inside the hostels, I have asked her to be alert and act calmly. Since Chernvitsi is close to Romania, it was not expected that the Russian attack would affect students here but there has been reported bombing from Ivano-Frankivsk, which is a city close to Chernvitsi. So we can’t say it is entirely safe at this point… but although, I have not been able to speak to her yet, she has assured me through messages that she is safe.”

Janvi Modi, a student from Patan in Gujarat, who spoke to Minister Trivedi over the video call, told this newspaper, “The third-year students from Ternobil Medical University were forced to stay back due to the KROK 1 exam, which is mandatory. We had been asking the university to shift classes online but they told us the situation was stable and now we are left with nowhere to go… Currently, 15 of us belonging to different states of India have shifted to the flat of a friend instead of staying in the hostel as we feel this will be a safer place…The Minister (Trivedi) told me that we will have to wait for a few days till the airspace opens up.”

Parents of students from Gondal in Rajkot district have also expressed their concern about the safety of their children. Pharmacy store owner Shailesh Dafda, whose daughter Devanshi, 19, is a third-year medical student at BSMU said, “My daughter has been trying to book a flight back home for the past 10 days but airlines are canceling their flights. She has somehow managed to book a flight on March 5 and we are hopeful that flight will not be cancelled.”

Oil-miller Rajesh Ramani from Gondal is worried about his daughter Bansi, a second-year MBBS student at the BSMU. “As advised by the Indian Embassy there, we have asked her to buy ration for two weeks and keep some cash in hand,” Ramani said, adding, “I have contacted Ramesh Dhaduk, the MP from Rajkot, and sought his help in bringing my daughter back at the earliest.”