An Air India flight from Poland's Rzeszow carrying over 240 students evacuated from northeastern Ukrainian city Sumy, landed in Delhi on Friday morning, officials said. The flight had taken off from Rzeszow around 11.30 pm (IST) on Thursday and landed in Delhi at 5.45 am on Friday, March 11, they said.
India has sent three flights to Poland to bring back 600 students evacuated from Sumy. Another flight landed in Delhi around 8.40 am, officials said. According to the details shared by the students with PTI, the first flight was for first, second and third-year students. The second flight is for fourth and fifth-year students and the third is for those with pets, fifth and sixth-year students and for any other who may have been left behind, they said.
Covering hundreds of miles across Ukraine using multiple means of transport, the students were evacuated from war-hit Ukraine after their two weeks of excruciating stay in beleaguered Sumy. After having endured a strenuous journey to escape the region, they were evacuated in the second attempt from Sumy, which has been witnessing heavy shelling and intense gunfire ever since the Russian offensive on Ukraine began last month.
Dheeraj Kumar, a sixth year medical student in Sumy State University, said he was pleased to see his parents at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on Friday morning. “We have gone through unprecedented challenges in Sumy. It was a terrible experience to survive the war for 13 days. To me, it looks like a miracle to have returned alive to my country,” Kumar told PTI as he met with his parents.
Another medical student in Sumy, Mahima Rathi, a native of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, said they had to run to the bunkers every time the sirens blew. “Whenever the siren blew, we had to take shelter in bunkers. We were all very terrified as we never knew whether we would be able to survive and return safely. We are now at ease after returning to India,” Rathi said.