Telangana students reach Hyderabad to warm hugs

Hyderabad: Tears of joy, smiling faces and warm hugs marked the arrival of the first batch of students at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Sunday afternoon. Anxious parents welcomed them upon arrival from Mumbai after an overnight journey.

"It took us three days to reach our home state. We reached safely, and we are thankful to the government for making all the arrangements. We pray for the safe journey of the other students who are trying to come back," said a relieved student. These students were evacuated from the western part of Ukraine, especially from Chernivtsi city which has less impact. They first reached the Romania border by bus which took almost five hours and then were airlifted to India safely with the help of the Indian Embassy.

Sharing the horrific incidents with The Hans India, Rupashree, a second-year student of MBBS, said, "Bukovinian State Medical University, and a resident of Wanaparthy, said, "As I was in the western part of the city in Chernivtsi there were no bombs explosions but for the past three days since the war began, I spent sleepless nights fearing what would happen if the same situation continues to occur. We were constantly hearing about attacks in eastern cities such as Kyiv and Kharkiv. "The embassy was randomly selecting the students and I was praying that I should be among the lucky first batch," she said.

"We were lucky that our university was chosen first. But also reaching the Romanian border was not an easy task. There was complete chaos at the border. We had to walk 10 km in freezing weather.

Finally, a bus was arranged to reach the airport," she explained. "We are the first batch to reach Hyderabad. I am one of 15 students who have reached the city. Had very horrifying experiences while reaching the Romanian border. As generally from Chernivtsi to Romanian it takes almost an hour but to reach the Romanian border it took us five hours to cover due to traffic jams. Many locals were walking to the border and everyone was trying to reach the border. Finally, with the help of the Indian embassy we could get into a bus. Then we were airlifted to Mumbai airport on Saturday," said P Sowmya, a fifth-year MBBS student of Bukovinian State Medical University, and a resident of Meerpet.

"I am really thankful to God that I safely reached India. I had terrified experiences. Many Indian students in eastern part are still in bunkers and metro stations," she said. "Though there was no problem for food and shelter, I faced a problem in withdrawing money since ATMs were not functioning. I hope that the rest of our friends who are stuck over there reach India safely soon," said P Deepthi, another student of Bukovinian State Medical University, and a resident of Quthbullapur.