‘Special 40’ acts as rescue group for students

A key member of the group, Mayank Goyal told The Indian Express that they decided to turn into a rescue group soon after the tension between Ukraine and Russia escalated last month.

Indian students standing outside Ukrainian embassy in Kyiv. (Screengrab/File)

A group of 40 Indian students that used to help compatriots with admission process in medical schools in Ukraine have now switched roles soon after Russian launched the military attack on the country. The group is now into rescuing the Indian students stranded in different parts of Ukraine amid the raging war.

A key member of the group, Mayank Goyal told The Indian Express that they decided to turn into a rescue group soon after the tension between Ukraine and Russia escalated last month. A fifth year student of MBBS at Ternopil National Medical University in Ukraine, Goyal, who hails from Haryana’s Jind town, returned to India on February 24 but is still coordinating the rescue efforts with the remaining members there.

“During the initial days of ongoing crisis, we formed groups of students when we saw that the embassy was not extending any help. The students who were in Kyiv remained there. Initially, the embassy kept them in a school but there was no proper facility of food and water. Then, we arranged 7-8 buses for them to take them to Poland border so that they could move out from Ukraine. Our group charged minimum fare from the students — in the range of Rs 1,500 to 2,000 — compared to others who were charging Rs 8,000 per person. We had planned to evacuate 1,100 students and have already evacuated 240 in first phase. We are taking help of students from Poland and local NGOs,” said Goyal.

He said the team of students worked round-the-clock in freezing temperatures to carry out the rescue work.

Goyal said that now only 10 students from the group of 40 are left in Ukraine. “They are those who are giving preference to others before their own evacuation,” Goyal said.

Sukhbir Siwach

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