KOCHI: The students who reached Kochi yesterday from Ukraine have a lot to say about the horrific experiences they underwent on the battlefront. They went through various experiences such as torture, threatening, starvation, trampling and humiliation before they reached their shore of relief. The faces of many of these students, who were exhausted from running and getting beaten in the bitter cold, still reflected the pain of misery.

Kaipamangalam native Ashwathy Shaji, a first-year aviation student at Kyiv National Aviation University, broke into tears soon after seeing her relatives. Her body contained bruises after getting beaten with a gun.

Ashwathy and her friends, who left Kyiv for the border on the 24th, were not allowed to enter Hungary. There were only three Malayalees in the group. They returned to Ukraine's Lviv the next day. On February 26, they arranged a bus and went to the Poland border. Upon reaching the border, they were beaten by Ukrainian soldiers when they attempted to cross the border.

Ashwathy and her friends had to wait for eleven and a half hours to enter Poland. They were locked up for five and a half hours for entry clearance. Ashwathy said that she got finally relieved only after seeing Indian embassy officials outside. Since February 28, the students were accompanied by the embassy officials. Most of the students who arrived yesterday shared similar experiences.

The first Air Asia chartered flight arranged by the Centre carried 166 Indian students from Kyiv, Odesa and Vinnytsia. Many were exhausted and weak. The airport witnessed emotional scenes as parents were relieved to finally see their children.