Back from Ukraine, Jalandhar students recall horrendous experience

Tribune News Service

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, March 6

City-based students, who returned home from war-ravaged Ukraine on Saturday night, shared their nightmarish experience of waking up to sound of bombs, hiding in bunkers along with thousands of people and walking in sub-zero temperatures to make it to border checkpoints.

7 more city students return home

• Of the total 56 students stranded in Ukraine whose families had registered themselves with the district helpline here, 35 have returned home safely till today. While 12 had returned on Saturday, seven students — Rushali, Yatanjeet Kaur, Loveleen Kaur, Joshua James, Vinay Sheel and two others — had returned home on Sunday evening. Besides, only three students are now stuck in Ukraine while 18 others have reached the borders of European countries. DC Ghanshyam Thori said families are in touch with their wards. Of 18 students, eight are in Poland, three have reached Romania. While one is in Portugal, two each in Hungary, Albania and Germany. He said for those three students still stranded in Ukraine, the district administration was making concerted efforts to ensure their safe return to India. “We are constantly pursuing the matter with the Ministry of External affairs,” he added.

The students said even though they were back, they feel traumatised as the sounds of bombing and firing continue to haunt them at the back of their minds. “The situation was beyond our imagination. We were first hiding in bunkers and when we realised the things were only getting worse, we ran to save our lives,” said Bhaveeshya Sandal, a resident of Bidhipur.

A final-year MBBS student in Kharkiv, one of the worst-hit towns by Russian attack, Bhaveeshya spent six days inside a bunker without any sleep or much food amidst the sound of bombarding, gunshots and emergency sirens. He said recalling those days still give him the chills as they were holed in bunkers like animals.

“There were 2,000 persons, including Ukrainians, Indian students and other foreign nationals, at my bunker, which was an underground metro station near Kharkiv Medical University. There was just one washroom and we used to stand in queues to wait for our turn,” he said.

Bhaveeshya further said it was after a day-long discussion with his friends on March 1, they gathered the guts to leave Kharkiv and they booked their tickets for Lviv. “As the situation was alarming, there was no transport available. We walked for nearly 5 km and then a local resident gave us a lift till railway station,” he said, adding there were thousands of people at the railway station and only kids, Ukrainians and women were given priority to board trains, while they were pushed out.

He said it was after much struggle and paying Rs 5,000 to the guards, he and his friends were allowed to board the train. “Despite having a ticket and paying Rs 5,000, we didn’t get a seat. We completed the 16-hour journey by standing near the door of my coach,” he added.

“The situation was no different at the Polish border. Their first preference to cross the border was being given to Ukrainians, so we had to wait for 10 to 12 hours. But once we exited Ukraine, things changed as Indian officials were present there,” he further said.

Like Bhaveeshya, six more students from Jalandhar who returned on Saturday rued step-motherly treatment given to them at Kharkiv railway station where they struggled to board a train as priority was Ukrainian nationals. They said in Lviv they received good treatment from locals who offered them food and even arranged transport to further travel to Poland and Hungary borders.

Shubham Sharma, a resident of Navjyoti Colony near Verka Milk plant, said he spent nearly four days in a bunker near his flat. He said they were running short of food and water and above that there was constant bombarding.

“We couldn’t wait for the situation to go out of our control, so we left for western borders on February 28. The journey till Lviv was a tough one as the train and station was jam-packed. I came through the Hungary border and the crowd there was better as compared to the Poland border,” added Shubham, a third-year student of VN Karazin Kharkiv National University.

Ashok Kumar, father of Ankush Kanwar, who has reached Delhi, said it was a scary experience for all students who were stranded in Ukraine. “They managed on their own and made it to the borders safely. But they are now stressed over their uncertain future which depends on the evolving situation in Ukraine,” he added.

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