BHUBANESWAR: A group of 13 Odia students who were evacuated from Israel via Egypt and Jordan under Operation Sindhu arrived safely in New Delhi on Tuesday. Seven of them are on their way back to Bhubaneswar.
The students are pursuing PhD from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Weizmann Institute of Science and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Heaving a sigh of relief, the students said they were waiting since the last 10 days for being evacuated from the conflict-hit country.
“Ever since the war broke out, we have been living in a precarious condition amidst uncertainty. It was the Indian Embassy that wrote to all universities where Indian students were studying for immediate evacuation,” said a student of Ben-Gurion University Nisharani Bishoyi. Nisharani was rescued along with six other Odia students from the university.
The students were all brought back in an IAD C-17 flight. “While there was no immediate threat at our institution, the situation was worse at many other places. There were some Indian students in Israel who were injured in drone attacks. We are thankful to both the Ministry of External Affairs and the Odisha government for facilitating our safe evacuation,” said another student Baidyanath Sahoo.
Back in Delhi, the office of chief resident commissioner, Government of Odisha, activated a 24x7 control room which coordinated with the Indian Embassy and helped in facilitating the safe return of these students. “The control room has remained in constant touch with the Odia students in Israel over their mobile phones while they were crossing over from Israel borders to Jordan and Egypt to ascertain their safe travel back to India,” an official said.