Rzeszow [Poland], March 4 (ANI): Some Indian students who safely crossed the Ukraine border and are now living in a shelter home provided by the Indian embassy in collaboration with some other welfare Association in Poland, refused to return to India if their pets are not allowed on board in the flight and said they “won’t be able to do it”.
Speaking to ANI, the student who hails from Haryana’s Karnal district, said that they reached the shelter on March 3 and refused to board the Indigo flight as they “are not taking pets with them”. He was told to “board the Indian Airforce plane“.
“We have a lot of attachment with them. They have been with us for nearly four years, how can we abandon them here. Nobody is doing that. We had spoken in the shelter to keep them, but even they to us to take them with us if possible,” he said when asked about the reason for not leaving behind the pets in the time when people are running for life.
“I have spoken to the embassy officials now and they have said that there is an Airforce plane and further told us to pack our bags. They will give us a call,” he added.
Asked if the Airforce plane does not allow the pets, the student said that he “will not be able to leave the pets behind”.
Another student Frenky told ANI that the pets were not being allowed in trains.
“Due to space constraints, pets were not being allowed in trains but we somehow brought them with us from Kharkiv after spending a lot of money. We’re waiting for special flights for those with pets to be flown to India,” she said.
After being denied flights over restrictions on boarding pets, student finally lands in Kochi from Ukraine with her dog
Kochi (Kerala) [India], March 4 (ANI): Kerala medical student Arya Aldrin, who earned praise for her struggle to get her pet dog back from conflict-ridden Ukraine, arrived at the Kochi airport on Friday.
Arya, an Idukki native reached Kochi airport with her pet dog, Saira, which is a breed of Siberian Husky from Ukraine.
She was in news for the last few days after she was denied to board flights from Romania due to the restrictions to not allow boarding pets in flights. Finally, she reached with Saira in Air India flight today. “At first, I would like to thank God. Everything went as per my plan so far. It is noteworthy that Sivankutty (Kerala Education Minister), Dean Kuriakose MP, the Central Government and Mahesh, the SPG of the Prime Minister, helped me,” she said.
She added, “My parents are my biggest support. I was able to do this because they stood with me. The media was very supportive. There are a lot of people like me who can not leave the pets at Ukraine. You need to help them legally and other.” “I couldn’t board two flights earlier from Romania because of my pet,” she claimed.
Arya added, “I am the happiest person in the world now. Saira is tired. I’m only going home after visiting a Veterinary to check her health.’ The government has also deployed ‘special envoys’ to four neighbouring countries bordering Ukraine to coordinate and oversee the evacuation process of Indian nationals.
Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri is overseeing evacuation efforts in Hungary, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju in Slovakia, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in Romania and Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways and Civil Aviation Gen VK Singh in Poland.
Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine’s breakaway regions – Donetsk and Luhansk – as independent entities. (ANI)
