Saudi Crown Prince, Italian PM Meloni discuss regional security in phone call    Musaned tops 2024 Beneficiary Satisfaction Index among 39 platforms with a rate of 96%    Saudi Arabia launches loan guarantees for SMEs to stimulate investment in environmental projects    Dr. Soliman Fakeeh Hospital, Jeddah is among top three 5-star hospitals in Middle East and North Africa    Antenna: Saudi artist Ahmed Mater opens first solo exhibition in China    79 hospitality facilities in Makkah and Madinah face penalties for closure order violations    S&P upgrades Saudi Arabia's credit rating to A+    Trump orders 'decisive' military action against Houthis in Yemen    US Senate passes Republican spending bill to avert government shutdown    Zelenskyy says territorial control key to peace talks, rejects recognition of occupied regions    Pakistan says train hijacking death toll rises to 30, accuses India and Afghanistan of supporting militants    Al Nassr climbs to third with dominant win over Al Khaleej, Al Qadsiah slips after loss to Damac    CEDA reviews role of reforms in diversification of economy and surge in non-oil revenues    Crown Prince receives Yazeed Al-Rajhi after historic Dakar Rally 2025 victory    Saleh Al-Shehri's late penalty rescues Al Ittihad against Al Riyadh    SR17 million fines slapped on 16 individuals and companies convicted of violating Capital Market Law    Grand Mufti rules against posting prayers and preaching in mosques on social media    Man lives for 100 days with titanium heart in successful new trial    Argentinian court begins trial of seven healthcare professionals over Maradona's death    Singer Wheesung who wooed Korea with his ballads, found dead at 43    Prince Frederik of Luxembourg dies from rare disease    King Salman prays for peace and stability for Palestinians in Ramadan message King reaffirms Saudi Arabia's commitment to serving the Two Holy Mosques and pilgrims    Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan 'out of danger' after attack at home in Mumbai    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Indian students living in fear of shelling in Kharkiv
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 02 - 03 - 2022

"We were sleeping when a deafening sound - an explosion - jolted us out of our beds. The whole building shook," says 22-year-old Soumya Thomas, recalling the moment when she fled her college hostel in Kharkiv several days ago.
Russia has been shelling the Ukrainian city since Saturday, shearing branches off trees, blowing out windows and even hitting schools and homes.
Soumya's friend and fellow Indian student, Naveen S Gyangoudar, died on Tuesday when he left the bunker in Kharkiv he'd been sheltering in to buy food.
India's foreign ministry confirmed that Gyanagoudar had died in shelling in Kharkiv and said it was in contact with his family.
Many students in Ukraine have been tweeting that finding food and supplies has become difficult since Russia invaded last week.
On the night of the shelling, Soumya says she and her friends grabbed "whatever they could" and ran to the grocery store, and then the nearest bunker. All of them, including Naveen, were students of the Kharkiv National Medical University.
"It was dingy, dark and so cold - there was no drinking water, so we had to drink pipe water. Outside, explosions rang out from time to time. And when food ran out, we had to manage with just one meal a day."
Soumya says they stayed in the bunker in the hope that the "Indian government would act soon" and rescue them.
She was speaking to the BBC on Tuesday night, while the group - some 20 of them - waited for a train to Lviv, a city in the western corner of Ukraine, close to the Polish border, where they hope to find help to get home.
"It's been six days since we have slept or ate properly. There is the sound of explosions piercing our ears... my friend is wheezing and even the pharmacy hasn't opened to give her medicine."
Soumya worries that their meagre supplies - eight boiled eggs, one loaf of bread and two packs of biscuits - may not last them through the 15-hour journey ahead. That is, if she manages to get on a train - her group has been barred from boarding three times because she alleges, they are not Ukrainians.
Thousands of Indian students are believed to be still stranded in Kharkiv as artillery shells strike the city.
India has ramped up evacuation efforts amid logistical hurdles to get its citizens home. Some 12,000 students have returned so far, India's foreign secretary has said. The country's foreign ministry has been advising Indians to make their way to border areas and cross over to board special flights from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. It has dispatched ministers to each of these countries to help with rescue efforts.
Indians account for a quarter, an estimated 20,000, of Ukraine's 76,000 foreign students, the largest cohort, according to official data. Many of them are there to study medicine in the country's state-run universities, which provide affordable quality education.
Many students are also stuck close to or at border crossings as they flee westward to escape advancing Russian troops.
Robin, who only goes by his first name, was also in Kharkiv until Tuesday but managed to board a train to "somewhere west" of the country by afternoon.
He says he managed to grab only his passport before fleeing the hostel - he had hoped to be better prepared, but when the attacks started, he says the shelling was so "furious" that there was "no time even to run".
A third-year student at the medical college, he was sheltering in the same underground metro in Kharkiv as Naveen, the Indian student who died. He says they left around the same time.
While Naveen went out to buy food, Robin and his friends tried to find a way to the railway station.
It was cold, he says. People appeared like silhouettes under the glare of headlights as cars frantically drove past him, only to get stuck in front of mounds of debris from shelled buildings.
He described serpentine queues at grocery stores and crumbling buildings, some reduced to a pile of stones, with debris and burnt vehicles strewn along the road.
"I was still searching for a taxi when we heard the deep rumble of an explosion," he says. "Minutes later we found out that Naveen had died."
He said they jumped into the taxi and fled.
On the train, he says, there were no seats as people crammed into the compartment.
"There is no place to even stand and we have already run out of food and water," he told the BBC over messages while he was on the train.
Back home in India, his parents are worried sick about him, he says. They stay in touch on WhatsApp, sporadically exchanging messages so Robin can save his phone battery.
"We are up against seemingly impossible odds but I am still hoping that all of us will be evacuated as soon as possible."
As for his parents, they continue to wait anxiously, he says: "What else can they do?"
Thousands of miles away, helpless and anxious parents have been glued to their TVs in India, watching warplanes, soldiers with guns and mortar blasts - as they wait with dread and hope for the next frantic message or call from their children.
"This is so bad, we talk to our daughter every day but can do nothing to help her," says Soumya's father, Biju Thomas, in the southern state of Kerala.
He says he tried contacting officials from the Indian government but was told that Soumya should try to get to a border city. So they are hoping that she can get on a train to Lviv.
"Rest we have left to God," Thomas says.
Some parents, like Asif Ansari in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, had advised their children to come home when tensions between Russia and the West started rising weeks ago.
Ansari says he told his 18-year-old son, Noman, also a student at Kharkiv Medical University, to come home.
But when his son assured him he had nothing to worry about, he relented.
Noman has been stuck in his hostel's bunker for six days with little food and water and "absolutely no way out".
Ansari and his wife are devastated. "I shouldn't have listened to him," he says, his voice cracking. "But who could've thought things would change this much?"
Ansari says he tried several times to contact embassy officials in India. He wonders why the Indian government took longer than other countries to issue an advisory asking people to leave Ukraine.
On 15 February, the Indian embassy in Ukraine said nationals who did not have essential work in the country "may consider leaving temporarily" due to "uncertainties" in the situation. This came four to five days after similar advisories from the UK and US, which told their citizens to leave immediately.
"I just want to see my son again," Ansari says.
"Every time I talk to my Noman, he pleads for help. I tell him to hold on tight, that help is coming. But when will it come?" — BBC


Clic here to read the story from its source.