New Delhi: After days of anxiety, hundreds of Indians stranded in Sumy were moved out of the danger zone of Ukraine and were on their way home.
The Indians, mostly students, were stuck in Sumy, a region located in the North East of Ukraine towards the Russian border, amidst heavy Russian bombardment and due to lack of transport.
Their safety had become a major concern and as help was not coming their way, the distressed students even had threatened to move on foot towards the Russian border despite huge risk to life.
“Happy to inform that we have been able to move out all Indian students from Sumy. They are currently en route to Poltava, from where they will board trains to western Ukraine. Flights under #OperationGanga are being prepared to bring them home,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted this evening.
A few days back, Bagchi had said that evacuating them was a huge challenge because of continuous bombardment and absence of transportation.
Earlier today, the Indian Embassy in Ukraine issued an advisory asking all the stranded people to take advantage of the “humanitarian corridor for evacuation” and move out quickly from the war-affected regions.
It said the “humanitarian corridor for evacuation” had been announced in various parts of Ukraine from 1000 hours (local time) today.
“Considering the security situation, establishment of next humanitarian corridor is uncertain. All stranded Indian nationals are urged to make use of this opportunity and evacuate by using trains/vehicles or any other available means of transport giving due consideration to safety,” the Embassy said in the advisory.
In another tweet, the Embassy said it intervened to evacuate 75 Indian sailors stranded in Mykolaiv Port.
“Yesterday buses arranged by Mission evacuated total of 57 sailors including 2 Lebanese & 3 Syrians. Route constraints precluded evacuation of balance 23 sailors. Mission is attempting their evacuation today,” it added.
