3 of Kaithal family stuck in Kharkiv

Parveen Arora

Kaithal/Karnal, March 2

Members of a joint family of two brothers in Kalayat of Kaithal district are glued to the television and mobile phones to get updates about the war situation in Ukraine for the past week.

Three of their children are pursuing MBBS (second year) and have been stranded in Kharkiv since the first day of the war.

The fresh guidelines for Indian students to vacate Kharkiv have made the family members anxious as they are unable to comprehend how their children would cross the border amid bombardment by Russia.

“My son Abhay Singh, nephew Sourav Singh and niece Vanshika Parmar have spent a week in a basement of the hostel amid fear. Sometime, they were given food twice a day. At other times, they remained without food. The situation is getting worse with each passing day, increasing our tension too. We are not able to contact the embassy. We are in touch with our wards who told us that somehow, they have managed to reach the railway station. But still, they do not know how they would cross the border of Ukraine which is far away,” said Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Kalayat.

His wife Shalu, brother Dr Madan Singh and sister-in-law Neelam along with other family members have been waiting eagerly for their return.

Data collected by The Tribune from the Kaithal administration reveals that 93 students of the district went to Ukraine. So far, 34 have returned. It has not been possible to contact 17 of them, increasing the tension of family members.

The data of Karnal administration shows that as many as 138 students went to Ukraine for studies. Of them, 49 have returned, 51 are in neighbouring countries and eight are on their way back to India. As many as 17 students are stranded in Ukraine.