VISAKHAPATNAM: Reddi Nomula Satya Sreeja of Visakhapatnam and a group of 25 students who took a train from Kharkiv, reached Poland border after a 24-hour arduous train journey on Wednesday, which takes 17 hours in normal times. They started at Kharkiv at 8 am on Tuesday and reached Lviv at 8 am on Wednesday. Throughout the 24-hour journey, they were forced to stand as the train was fully crowded leaving no space to sit.
Sreeja, a student of Kharkiv National Medical University, told TNIE that after alighting from train at Lviv they changed their original plan to go to Hungary as cab operators demanded Rs 42,000 ($600), which would cost them nearly Rs 3 lakh for hiring six cabs. Hence, they opted to go to the Poland border.
Not in a position to pay such a huge amount, they travelled to Poland border in cabs as the journey was comparatively less expensive, she said.Narrating their ordeal, she said they did not have food to eat for a day. They only had a slice of bread, a glass of juice and water given by an Ukrainian family at Lviv and its kindly gesture gave them energy to continue their arduous journey as they were determined to reach the border by any means. “It was raining bombs at Kharkiv when we boarded the train. It took almost six hours to cross the 67 km stretch of Kyiv en route.” They heaved a sigh of relief when they alighted from the train at Lviv.
Sreeja said the group pooled whatever money was left with them to spend for their travel and other needs. She said there were still several hundreds of Indian students in Kharkiv when they started. A Ukrainian soldier accompanied them in a car up to Poland border to ensure their safe journey, she said.Now, Sreeja and her friends have been waiting for help from the Indian government at the Poland border, her father Reddi Arjun told TNIE.
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Sreeja informed him that there were no immigration officials at the Ukrainian side of the border. Food and shelter are being provided to those who crossed into Poland and preference is being given to Ukrainians at the border crossing. On the advice of counsellor Divya in Kharkiv, his daughter and her friends left the city. Students are being given permission to travel after getting the declaration of parents through a video message.
He said Sreeja faced an ordeal during her five-day stay in the university hostel bunker as the supply of food was restricted. Finally, they overcame all the hurdles and reached the border safely. Sreeja and other students were not carrying much luggage and each had left goods worth Rs 50,000 in their hostel rooms, he added.
They changed plan to go to Hungary
Reddi Nomula Satya Sreeja and her friends changed their original plan to go to Hungary after alighting from train at Lviv as it would cost them nearly Rs 3 lakh for hiring six cabs. Hence, they chose to go to Poland border in cabs as the journey was comparatively less expensive
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