Emotions ran high as Indian students, evacuated from the embattled Ukrainian city of Sumy, came out of the Delhi airport on Friday and hugged their parents, who had been waiting there for over five to six hours to see their children.
The scene was littered with teary-eyed parents and family members, some of whom distributed sweets and garlanded their children while others welcomed them with bouquets and hugs upon their arrival at gate numbers 4 and 5 of the Indira Gandhi International airport.
Slogans of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "Modi hai to Mumkin Hai" were also raised by some family members of students who returned from war-hit Ukraine.
An Air India flight from Poland's Rzeszow carrying the 240 students landed in Delhi on Friday morning. The flight had taken off from Rzeszow around 11.30 pm on Thursday and landed in Delhi at 5.45 am on Friday, officials said.
The evacuees from Sumy were from different states, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Punjab and Haryana.
Lalit Kumar travelled over 600 km from Chamba in Himachal Pradesh to reach IGI airport to receive his son Dheeraj Kumar, who was stuck in Ukraine's Sumy following the fierce Russian military offensive.
As soon as Dheeraj came out of the airport, his parents and sister hugged him and started crying. Dheeraj's father also distributed sweets to everyone present there and garlanded his son. "I came all the way from Chamba and have been waiting here since midnight. But now since my son has returned safely, all my pain has gone," Kumar told PTI.
Some students also thanked the government, the Indian embassy and their university who helped them get out of Ukraine. "We thank the Indian government and the embassy which carried out this sensitive Operation Ganga to evacuate us from Ukraine. We also thank our university in Sumy which provided us food and water during the hardship," Lavish Kalal of Banswara in Rajasthan said.
Some states, such as Chattisgarh and Gujarat, also set up their help desks for evacuees from Ukraine at the airport.
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Tanvi Chaudhary, one of the evacuees and a resident of Rudrapur in Uttarakhand, could not control herself and ran to hug her brother as soon as she saw him at the airport. "I can't believe that I made it to my country and am now reunited with my family. It still feels like a dream," Chaudhary said, as her eyes brimmed with tears.
For Ishita Pandita, the wait of over five hours was finally over as her brother Dhruv returned to India with other evacuees in another Indigo flight. "The flight was delayed by around four hours and we had been waiting here since morning. My joy knows no bounds today and the wait is finally over as the flight has landed. My brother will finally be with us after a long wait," she said while taking out a garland and a bouquet from her bag.
The Indian government is carrying out the most delicate and challenging evacuation exercise under Operation Ganga to help stranded Indians leave Ukraine. The operation to evacuate the 600 students from Sumy began on Tuesday morning.
India has sent three flights to Poland to bring back a big last group of 600 students evacuated from Sumy.
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