Mumbai: It was all smiles and relief on the faces of Indian students who were evacuated from Ukraine and landed safely in Mumbai Saturday night.
The first evacuation flight, AI1944, departed from Bucharest, Romania, at 1.55 PM (Indian Standard Time) and landed at Mumbai airport at around 8.30 pm. The flight was carrying 219 Indian students.
At the airport, scenes of anxiety and relief were visible. Parents and relatives had started coming in from 7 pm, waiting with bated breath to welcome their children who had been stranded in war-torn Ukraine.
Indubai Bhalerao, in her 70s, had come to receive her granddaughter. She had been advised by her son and daughter-in-law to stay at home, but, “I could not. I had to see my granddaughter now. I was very worried for her.”
The second evacuation flight, AI1942, is expected to return to Delhi airport early Sunday morning with another 250 Indian nationals.
Ukrainian airspace has been closed for civil aircraft operations since Thursday morning, and therefore the evacuation flights are operating out of Bucharest and Budapest, Hungary. Around 16,000 Indians, mainly students, were stranded in Ukraine, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla had said Thursday.
‘Strength of India’, ‘We thank Modi’
Union minister Piyush Goyal was also at the airport to receive the students. Speaking to mediapersons, he said, “This is the strength of India that we want to imbue all children with.”
He further said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is continuously working to ensure the safety of Indians and their safe passage to the country.
Political parties flooded the space, with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers holding placards thanking NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Modi respectively.
As soon as the students began to come out, the BJP workers filled the air with “We thank Modi” slogans, as anxious parents and children searched for each other.
Hugs, smiles, and garlands later changed the atmosphere.
Arrangements by local authorities, states
Mumbai’s mayor, Kishori Pednekar, who was at the airport, said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation was prepared to welcome the students and bear any expenses of helping them.
“These are our children who are coming back to their homeland. So we as the BMC are doing all the preparation for them. If they want to go anywhere, their testing , vaccination, food, anything — we will be bearing their expenses.”
Slowly, the airport was filled with different groups. Representatives of various states including Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Bihar stood with placards to receive their students.
The students were then to be taken to hotels or other accommodation, with food being provided by their respective states until domestic flights carry them to the state capitals.
(Edited by Rohan Manoj)
Also read: Sounds of bombing, crowded basements, no food — Indian students stuck in Ukraine recount horror