NEW DELHI: Walked nearly 50 kilometres in the cold for four days – sometimes alone, hungry and almost on the verge of collapse. Nineteen-year-old Asha (name changed), a second-year medical student in Ukraine, finally had a good night’s sleep at a hotel in Poland on Monday.
Terrified after her harrowing time at the border where she was among the hundreds of Indian students, who were beaten, tortured, and harassed, she finally heaved a sigh of relief when she was reunited with friends she had separated from while walking towards the Ukraine-Poland border at the hotel arranged by the Indian Embassy in Poland in cooperation with Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“I started walking with my friends on February 25 morning. Last night, we had reached this hotel (in Poland). We were constantly walking in the minus five degree temperature with luggage. We had carried food and water with our us,” she told this newspaper over the phone about her journey after Russia attacked Ukraine. She is now staying with over 400 Indian students at the Hotel Prezydenckie in Poland and is waiting for flights back home tonight.
Sharing her experience at the Ukraine-Poland border where Indians were beaten up, she said, “We were stopped at the border for close to eight hours without reason. The Ukrainian army suddenly turned violent. They started beating up people, especially Indians.” “They used batons, stun guns, and even fired in the air. It was a terrifying sight which I will never forget,” she said. Her other friends, who also requested not to be identified, and were injured at the border, agreed that the memory would permanently be etched in their minds.
Nehal Singh from Ahmedabad, a third-year student from the same college, said he is happy to be alive and doesn’t want to remember the horror they witnessed at the border where Indians were beaten up mercilessly. During her journey towards the Polish border, Asha was separated from her friends and walked alone for miles. “I was lucky to find another group of Indian students who were walking towards the border. Many of us also suffered from hyperthermia.”
“I walked for 40 to 50 kilometres in these four days. My legs are swollen, my skin is peeling. I have cuts and bruises. It’s the same with my friends,” she constantly coughed as she spoke. “Now, I am in a safe place. The arrangements here are fantastic,” she said as she praised Amit Lath, vice-president of the Chamber, who is helping the Indian Embassy in Poland in making arrangements for the evacuees. “He is also helping us in trying to locate other Indian students who are similarly stranded.”