new Delhi: According to news agency PTI, three planes carrying 674 people, mainly students, were evacuated from the troubled city of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine on Friday, with the returnees describing the horrors they were experiencing and how they two He was able to avoid fighting that lasted for weeks. Reported.
Two Air India and IndiGo aircraft carrying 461 passengers arrived at Indira Gandhi International Airport at 5.45 am and 12.20 pm respectively, while an Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 carrying 213 passengers landed at Hindon airport at 12.15 pm.
Although there was no official notification from the government that the evacuation operation from Ukraine had been completed, these three flights from Razzow, Poland, were considered the last.
As the students exited the Delhi airport and greeted their parents, who had waited five to six hours to see their children, emotions ran high.
Several parents and family members offered sweets to their children and had tears in their eyes, while others greeted them with bouquets and hugs as they reached gates 4 and 5 of the IGI airport.
Some family members yelled slogans such as “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Modi hai to Mumkin Hai.”
Experience of Indian students expelled from Sumi
“Even now when I am back in India, the situation I went through will haunt me for days. Life in Sumi during the war was terrible. I never thought I would make it out alive in India ,” Dhruv Pandita was quoted by PTI in its report.
Pandita claimed that she was held hostage along with three other students at Sumi.
“We were locked in a bunker and had no water or food. We had to melt snow for drinking water. We were not allowed to leave,” Pandita told PTI.
Students who reached Hindon Air Base in an Indian Air Force jet at 12.30 pm narrated the story of similar pain.
Virdha Lakshmi of Thrissur, hailing from Kerala, arrived at the airbase with her three-year-old white kitten.
Lakshmi told PTI, “I never wanted to leave my cat in Ukraine to die in the bombing. Our trip to Poland was stopped due to security reasons and so we reached Poland from Sumi in two days. We didn’t expect us to survive.” ,
When the siren sounded, Mahima Rathi, Sumi’s medical student and a resident of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, said she had to rush to the bunkers.
Rathi said, “Whenever the sirens sounded, we had to take shelter in the bunkers. We were all very scared as we never knew that we would be able to escape and return safely. After returning to India, we are now at ease. “
Hannah, who hails from Kerala, was the last student to disembark from the C-17 aircraft in Hindon.
He expressed his gratitude to the authorities for rescuing the Ukrainian students.
Hannah said, “We have gone through a lot in the last few days and I thank everyone who took the initiative to bring us back home. We have seen a lot in this short period, including explosions.”
Operation Ganga
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Twitter, “Operation Ganga, on the instructions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has worked because of both leadership and commitment. We are grateful to all those who fulfilled its objectives.”
#OperationGanga pic.twitter.com/1nw8ZnLw3o
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) 11 March 2022
India on Tuesday evacuated its men from Sumi after Russia and Ukraine established a humanitarian corridor for their evacuation, following New Delhi’s intense diplomatic engagement with both sides.
Around 18,000 Indians have returned to India as part of ‘Operation Ganga’ that began on February 26, two days after Russia launched an armed incursion into Ukraine.
(with PTI inputs)