Stuck in bunker, Chennai students seek help – Hindustan Times

As five Tamil Nadu students from Ukraine arrived in Chennai on Sunday, a few students from Chennai are still clinging with no help in the war-torn region.

Speaking to HT, an undergraduate student who has been studying medicine for four years at the Zaporizhia State Medical University in south-eastern Ukraine city of Zaporizhzhia, said that the students are stuck in an underground bunker, and are grossly running out of water, food and communicating with intermittent electricity.

She said that there are a thousand other students from various parts of India in Zaporizhia. “Whenever we hear an explosion, we move to the basement of our hostel,” she said, requesting anonymity.

“Most of the students who have been evacuated are those who were able to reach the border and those who managed to go to Poland and Romania. But we are more than 20-hours away from the border, and there is no transport,” she added.

The student heard the first bombing on Thursday when Russian president Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.

“Every day, we have been waking up to explosions like an alarm clock. It’s a very bad experience. We just want the government to know that there are students from the east, too, and evacuate us as soon as possible. It is very difficult for us, and we are panicking. Anytime, anything could happen.”

About 5,000 students from the state are studying medicine and other professional courses in Ukraine. One of the male students in Kharkiv region, (Is he from Tamil Nadu as well?) phoned the Indian embassy helpline in Ukraine – a six-minute audio clip which HT has listened to but cannot verify its authenticity – requesting immediate evacuation. An official was heard responding to the student that there cannot be any evacuation for now as the airspace is closed and no movement is possible.

The official said that the advisory is for them to stay where they are. When the student asked if they are to spend sleepless nights in bunkers, the official said, “Of course, there is no other alternative.”

On behalf of all students, the male student told the official that they are helpless in a foreign land, and he raised the competence of the Indian embassy as they are the last ones to get out of the country, comparing their situation to students of other countries, who were evacuated earlier and to that of the US where American nationals had left in January.

Frightened students have packed important belongings and documents. Most of them shuttle between their hostel and the bunker below with their backpacks. Their families back home are even more petrified.

“We haven’t been able to sleep. Round the clock, we are only trying ways to reach the right officials who can evacuate our child and every student who is stuck there,” said relative of the above-cited girl student. “We sent her money but it hasn’t reached her because communication lines are down.”

Meanwhile, the first batch of students arrived in Chennai on Sunday on a rescue flight, a day after chief minister M K Stalin spoke to students from Tamil Nadu stranded in the war-torn region via video. The state government has already announced that they will bear the flight expenses for students who are returning and a round-the-clock control room has been set up in the Tamil Nadu House in Delhi. Officials said that another 12 students are expected to arrive later in the day.

“Tomorrow, anywhere between 50 to 100 Tamil students are likely to arrive in Chennai,” said a government official coordinating the evacuation.

State officials also said the current advisory for students in the south is to stay in safe spaces. “Evacuation is happening university-wise. And as of now, it is happening in regions where it is safer to move by buses.”