Future uncertain but students are happy to be back in India

PTI, Feb 27, 2022, 8:21 AM IST

Image credit: ANI

Mumbai: The Indian students from Ukraine who landed here by the first evacuation flight of Air India on Saturday evening were happy that they returned safely, but also harbored anxiety about the future as war has disrupted their education.

Air India flight AI-1944, carrying 219 passengers from Bucharest, Romania, touched down the runway at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here at 7.50 pm.

“I was a little bit worried when it all started. But I am happy now to be back in the country. The Indian embassy and Indian government helped us a lot, ”said a medical student who went to Ukraine last June.

Another medical student, who was in the second year of his course, said he was confident of returning safely.

“I want to go back (to Ukraine) but the situation is deteriorating there. I may have to take online classes now,” he said.

A medical student from Maharashtra said he was very happy to be back. ”But I am not sure how my future will pan out after this,” he added.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal was at the airport to receive the Indian nationals returning from Ukraine which is reeling under an invasion by Russia.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi from day one was worried about all our students, every Indian citizen, and wanted all of them safe, secure, and returned back to India,” Goyal told reporters.

“I am really delighted that our first batch of students has returned today. 219 young boys and girls from all over the country, from Himachal Pradesh, down south from Gujarat, Rajasthan, all the way to Uttar Pradesh have arrived today. Students from all over the country have been taken care of,” he added.

The Air India flight had left from Mumbai for Bucharest at 3.38 am Saturday and landed there at around 10.45 am (Indian Standard Time). It departed for Mumbai at 1.55 pm (IST).

The Ukrainian airspace has been closed for civil aircraft operations since the morning of February 24 and therefore, the evacuation flights are operating out of Bucharest and Budapest.

Indian nationals who reached the Ukraine-Romania border by road have been taken to Bucharest by Indian government officials so that they can be evacuated in the Air India flights.

Around 16,000 Indians, mainly students, were stranded in Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had said on February 24.

Air India will operate more flights on Saturday to Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine.

Prior to the closure of the Ukrainian airspace, Air India had operated a flight to Ukraine’s capital Kyiv on February 22 that brought 240 people back.

It had planned to operate two more flights on February 24 and February 26 but could not as the Russian offensive began on February 24 and the Ukrainian airspace was consequently shut down.