BENGALURU, HUBBALLI: As of Sunday, 458 Karnataka students have been evacuated from Ukraine and have reached home, while 226 students from the state are still stranded in the war-hit country, said Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority Commissioner Manoj Rajan on Sunday.
Twelve flights are scheduled to land in the country on Monday, he added.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who was in Hubballi, said the state government is in touch with Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to bring the stranded students back.
The government is getting information about the mortuary where the mortal remains of Naveen Gyana Goudar, a medical student from Karnataka who was killed last Tuesday, have been kept.
"Efforts are being made with the help of Indian Embassy officials to get Naveen’s body back to his village Chalageri in Haveri district," Bommai said.
Replying to a question on the academic future of medical students who have returned from Ukraine, CM Basavaraj Bommai said a suitable decision will be taken in consultation with the Union government.
He was talking after welcoming Chaitra Gangadhar, a medical student from Yaraguppi village of Kundagol taluk in Dharwad district, who returned safely from Ukraine. Chaitra was studying at Kharkiv in Ukraine.
“Of the stranded students, four were from Dharwad. Two have returned home safely and we are confident of bringing back the other two as well. We have been informed that they have crossed the Ukraine border,” he added.
Another medical student, Rakshit Ravi Gani from Kottalagi village of Athani taluk in Belagavi district, told TNIE over phone that Indian Embassy officials moved around 500 Indian students to safety from Kharkiv. Of them, 80 are from Karnataka.
Rakshit said, “Indian embassy officials are in constant touch with us. Earlier, we tried to board a train, but we did not get seats as everyone is leaving Kharkiv. We were panicking. We also had health issues as we did not get food and water. Indian embassy officials finally arranged a bus for us late on Saturday night. We are travelling towards Poland.”