237 Indian students stranded in Russia land in Bengaluru

A team of medical students from various districts across Karnataka, including Davangere, returned to Bengaluru from Moscow, Russia, in the wee hours of Tuesday, after three months of struggle to return to their motherland. The students have now been quarantined.

The colleges and hostels in Russia were closed down in the wake of Covid-19. As many as 237 Indian students had appealed to Union ministers, MPs, state ministers and legislators through social media sites, to take steps to evacuate them from Russia.

170 from Karnataka

Of the 237 students, 170 are from the state and the others are from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. They left for Bengaluru from Moscow in a Royal Flight aircraft on the evening of Monday and landed in Bengaluru
on Tuesday.

Appeal on social media

As many as 11 students from Davangere had appealed to MP G M Siddeswara through Facebook and Twitter, to make necessary arrangements for their travel.

Following this, the MP wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on July 1, urging them to help the students reach India.

Speaking to DH, Parashuram, one of the students from Davangere, said, “Students from Bengaluru, Davangere, Tumakuru, Hubballi, Koppal and other districts were on the flight from Moscow. We had appealed to elected representatives to arrange for a direct flight from Moscow to Bengaluru. The Centre and state government responded to our appeals in time. We are told to be in seven days of institutional or home quarantine.”