A 22-year-old Indian student passed away in Ukraine, as the country fights a war with Russia after being invaded a week ago.
The student, identified as Chandan Jindal, hailed from Punjab's Barnala and was a medical student at National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsya. His death has been confirmed by the Ministry of External Affairs.
Jindal died suffering from an ischemic stroke, sources told The Quint.
MEA spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi, on Wednesday said that Jindal's family was also in Ukraine.
According to reports, he had suffered the stroke on 2 February and had been admitted to the ICU, after which his father and uncle went to Ukraine on 7 February.
The student's father has written to the Government of India to make arrangements for bringing his body back, Hindustan Times (HT) reported.
His cousin Neeraj Jindal, a municipal councillor in the Barnala Nagar Council, told The Indian Express that he was a very bright student who had been doing well in Ukraine.
“He studied till Class X in Barnala and later went to Chandigarh to take coaching to prepare for pre-medical competitions. He was always among the toppers in school and four years back, he went to Ukraine to study medicine,” Neeraj said.
Jindal is the second Indian to have died in the war-torn country in two days. Naveen Shekharappa Gyanagoudar, who was also a medical student, had lost his life amid Russian shelling on Kharkiv on 1 March.
Naveen was a fourth-year student of forensic science at Kharkiv National Medical University.
After Naveen's death, the Indian government has been facing flak from the Opposition for not acting "soon enough."
India's Efforts To Evacuate Citizens
Jindal's passing comes even as the Centre has put an evacuation plan in place for Indians stranded in Ukraine.
As Russian troops took the ground and missile attacks were launched in the centre of Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, the Indian embassy issued two urgent advisories for all Indian nationals, asking them to "leave Kharkiv immediately."
The embassy asked the students to reach Pesochin, Babaye, and Bezlyudovka settlements by 6 pm Ukraine time on Wednesday.
During the last 24 hours, 3,352 Indians have come back to India in 15 flights, six of which have landed in India in the last 24 hours.
Highlighting the ongoing evacuation operations, MEA spokesperson Bagchi said that as many as 15 flights are scheduled over next 24 hours, some of which are already en route.
Earlier on Tuesday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was monitoring the situation twice daily.
"We have also deployed IAF plane for the same. About 2,500 people evacuated till this morning. They are being sent to neighbouring nations and being brought back from there," he told ANI.
(With inputs from ANI, The Indian Express and Hindustan Times.)
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