Thiruvananthapuram: Norka Roots Resident Vice-Chairman P Sreeramakrishnan said that everything in its capacity will be done to help the Malayalis stranded in Ukraine as the country is reeling from the impact of war declared by Russia. He told mathrubhumi.com that efforts to rescue Keralites trapped in the country have been underway for the past two weeks.

'The Indian Embassy had issued a notice that it was advisable to retreat from the country after hearing the possibility of an impending war. This information was passed over to all students who moved to the country after attestation through Norka. We also tried to share this information with students who travelled without Norka's attestation. But many students refused to leave the country fearing that they would have to drop their studies midway,' Sreeramakrishnan said.

'There were possibilities to get out of the country till yesterday evening. But things have changed drastically since then. They can be brought back only by initiating special rescue missions. This is not something that can be carried out by the Kerala government or Norka alone. We had requested the Ministry of External Affairs to intervene in this matter actively. The Chief Minister himself had sent a letter to the Prime Minister stating the same. The ministry responded positively and it has started planning the rescue mission.'

'The plan is to bring the students to the borders of four countries by avoiding travel by air. The evacuation is being planned through the borders of Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania. But this is very risky. There are embassy camp offices set up over there. Norka will help the students contact them for this. A toll-free number has been set up for this purpose. We are doing everything in our capacity. If there is anything more that needs to be done, that too will be undertaken.'

'It is imperative not to create a state of panic. It is believed that there are more than 2000 students, registered and not registered with Norka, in Ukraine. Norka does not have exact information about these students.'
Sreeramakrishnan said that those who haven’t registered will also be helped to get out of the country and that there is no need to worry.