Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Mar 2: About 18 people of Dakshina Kannada origin are stranded in the war-torn Ukraine. Most of them are MBBS students. Because of intensified shelling, people have been unable to venture out. The incident in which a student from Haveri district was killed on Tuesday has given rise to panic among the Dakshina Kannada students pursuing education in Ukraine.

Anaina Anna from Derebail says that for the last five days they are in the metro station shelter and that they are not able to get proper food. "We are pulling along by eating biscuits, chocolates etc. We keep hearing the sound of bombings. There is information that we will be taken towards the border. Poland is 1,500 km away from here. We have become fearful after watching a video which claimed that the students are harassed at the border," she explained.

Anaina's mother Sandhya said that Anaina along with her classmates lived in the bunker from where they were unable to venture out because of bomb attacks. The food stored was exhausted, and on Tuesday morning, she went to the hostel from the bunker, prepared some food, and returned to the bunker. In the afternoon, Anaina went from Kharkhiv to Lviv. From there she plans to travel to Hungary. Even though she had travelled by train towards the border, she has not received any response from the embassy yet, "she added.

Lloyd Pereira from Gurpur - Kaikamba is a student of Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University in Ukraine. He was accommodated in a hostel in Mikilive city. The student said that because of shelling, they spent the nights inside the bunkers and that there were about 200 students there. He stated that the two bridges connecting the city had been destroyed by the Russian army and the food supply was stopped. "We are in the eastern side of Ukraine where the Russian attack is more intense. We have not received any assistance. We are afraid of losing lives out of hunger," he said.

He asked the MLAs and MPs of his native to arrange for the immediate return of students to India. Otherwise, the students will have to take risks and travel towards the border as there is no other option, he confessed.

Another student, Sakshi Sudhakar from the city who stays in Mikholaiv says that about 330 students including her were spending days inside the bunker where there is no proper arrangement for food, water and toilets. "War is going on outside. There are no vehicles to reach the border. Arrangements have to be made to help us reach the border," she said.

Another student from the city, Prithviraj,who is a fourth year MBBS student, took a train on Monday towards Slovakia. He said that he decided to travel as suggested by the Indian embassy, and that 1,450 Indian students had reached the railway station. Claton and Anshita too said they had left for the Hungarian border and from there they would be airlifted to India. Claton's mother Olin Lasrado, said that officials of the Indian embassy were with these students.