Mrinal (19), a student from Udupi pursuing medical education in Ukraine returned home on February 28, Monday. He was one among the seven from the district stranded in the crisis-hit country. He was first year MBBS student at Ivano-Fran Kivsk National Medical University, Kahaimkiv Street-31. Mrinal was given a warm welcome by his father Rajesh and mother Sandhya when he reached Sampige Nagar near Udyavara in Udupi at about 7 p.m. His grandmother Vasanthi was too happy seeing her grandson back home.

Mrinal told that the Romanian government and Indian embassy in Romania has helped them. The Romanian government provided with food and all the necessary items. The Indian embassy provided bus facility for 212 people of India in Romania, and all the necessary arrangements were made by them. “I appreciate the Union Government for bearing the flight charges from Bucharest to Bengaluru via Delhi. I travelled from Bengaluru to Mangalore on a bus”, he added. According to the Udupi district administration, three more students — Niyam Raghavendra, Nandini Arun and Ankitha Jagadish Poojary — are also on their way to India. The other three — Glenwill Fernandes, AniFed Ridly D’Souza and Rohan Dhananjay Bagli — are in bunkers in Ukraine.