Stranded pupils from Bhagalpur, Banka, Kosi make stress calls from Ukraine

BHAGALPUR/MADHEPURA: Several students from Bhagalpur, Banka and Kosi region, including two from Madhepura town, are stranded in Ukraine after the Russian invasion there. They are making distress calls back home and requesting authorities to evacuate them at the earliest.
“Anything can happen as we are holed up in Ternopil,” said Shubham Samrat in a video message to his mother Sarita Devi and father Manoj Kumar Singh while speaking about scarcity of resources for his survival.He also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to evacuate him and many other students from Bihar, mostly pursuing MBBS. Shubham, pursuing MBBS at Ternopil National Medical University (TNMU), is a resident of Kathara under Sultanganj block in Bhagalpur district.
Shubham said compulsion to attend classes offline and sharp rise in air ticket prices were the reasons why the students could not return to India. He along with other students had sent emails to the Indian Embassy to request the Ukrainian government and the TNMU officials to allow online classes, so that they could return home. But nothing happened, he rued.
Rajiv Kumar, the son of Gyan Yadav of Marwabaran village under Bounsi block in Banka district and Ankit Kumar Sah of Barari block in Katihar district had similar stories to narrate.
Shubham’s mother, who is a teacher, said she and her family members were worried about her son and his other fellow students, who are forced to remain awake due to fear of death.
Sources associated with the families of the TNMU students said 500-600 students from different parts of India and at least 35 from Bihar and pursuing MBBS courses in different universities of Ukraine are trapped in the war zones.
Madhepura trader Rajendra Keshri said his daughter, a second year student of Kharkiv National Medical College, had packed the bag to board the plane for India but the it was cancelled following the Russian missile attack. “The students are directed to stay in their respective hostels for safety. My daughter is scared in her hostel, which is now a base camp,” Keshri said. “I talked to my daughter Wednesday night. The students staying there apprehended shortage of potable water and power failure in the hostels. The students are experiencing scarcity of food items in the local market,” he said, quoting his daughter.
The son of Aikanand Kumar of ward number 19 in Madhepura town also studies in the same college in Ukraine. He also apprehended shortage of food items.
Gauri Shankar Prasad of Tribeniganj in neighbouring Supaul district said college hostels in Ukraine have turned into base camps under the UN flag for the students. Prasad’s son and daughter are pursuing MBBS course in Kharkiv Medical College. “The students hardly get one or half litre of drinking water after staying in a long queue for hours. My children told me that a portion of hostel got damaged in the bomb attack, though students remained unhurt in the incident,” Prasad said.
Prasad further claimed that hundreds of students from Kosi region are pursuing medical courses in Ukraine. “They pin their hopes on the Indian government for their safe evacuation from the war zone,” he said.