Indian tricolour rescued many Pakistani, Turkish students from Ukraine
“We were told in Ukraine that being Indians and carrying the Indian flag, we won’t have any problems,” a medical student who arrived from Odessa in Southern Ukraine was quoted as saying by ANI.
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FollowBucharest: India’s national tricolour rescued not only the stranded Indians but also those hailing from Pakistan and Turkey to cross into the neighbouring countries of Ukraine, news agency ANI reported.
The Indian students who arrived in the Bucharest city in Romania from Ukraine said that the national tricolour helped them as well as some Pakistani and Turkish students in safely crossing the various checkpoints in the war-torn country.
The Indian students arrived in the Romanian city to catch the special evacuation flights under ‘Operation Ganga’ being operated from the neighbouring countries of Ukraine. Air India, SpiceJet and Indigo are flying special evacuation flights.
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“We were told in Ukraine that being Indians and carrying the Indian flag, we won’t have any problems,” a medical student who arrived from Odessa in Southern Ukraine was quoted as saying by ANI.
The students narrated how they bought spray paints from the markets to prepare Indian flags. “I ran to the market, bought some colour sprays and a curtain. I then cut the curtain and spray-painted it to make the Indian tricolour,” a student was quoted.
They added that even some Pakistani and Turkish students passed checkpoints using the Indian flag. “The Turkish and Pakistani students were also using the Indian flag,” a student said, adding that the Indian flag was of great help to the Pakistani, Turkish students.
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The students from Odessa moved from Molodova to Romania. “We booked the bus from Odessa and came to the Molodova border. The Molodovan citizens were very nice. They provided us with free accommodation and taxis and buses to get to Romania,” a student was quoted by ANI. Further adding that they did not face much problem in Moldova as the Indian embassy had already made the arrangements.
The students also expressed their gratitude to the Indian embassy officials who arranged for their food and shelter as they awaited their flights back to India, ANI reported.
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“When a student is arriving here, he’s first taken to a proper shelter and provided with food while the registration takes place while dates on which they will be evacuated are finalised,” the student said.
Earlier on Monday, following a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian government deputed four Union Cabinet ministers to the neighbouring countries of Ukraine to coordinate the evacuation efforts.
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