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Updated 09 Mar, 2022 12:26pm

How a Pakistani man helped evacuate 2,500 Indian students from Ukraine

A Pakistani bus tour manager in Ukraine has so far helped evacuate 2,500 Indian citizens who were stuck in the country hit by Russia's invasion, reported Rediff.com.

Moazzam Khan, who hails from the Tarbela cantonment area near Islamabad, came to Ukraine 11 years ago and settled in Ternopil, according to the report.

Khan, who studied civil engineering in Ukraine, switched his profession and started a bus tour business in Ukraine.

His bus service has helped evacuate at least 2,500 Indians stuck in Ukraine.

He collaborated on this mission with Nitesh Singh, founder of Team SOS India.

Khan's bus serviced picked students from Ternopil and dropped them to borders of Hungary and Slovakia, which are 5-hour drive away, Romania, which is a 3-hour drive, and Poland, which is a two-and-a-half hour drive.

During these trying times for international citizens in Ukraine, when other drivers raised their fares to $250, Khan's bus service charged $20 or $25 from each Indian student. Some times it did not accept payment when the students had no money.

Khan said he was especially sympathetic because of the language difficulty in Ukraine.

"I speak Urdu and most of the Indian students speak Hindi, so this connects us instantly. Hindi and Urdu are almost the same and therefore we gel well," he said in his interview.

Khan's mobile number went viral on many Indian WhatsApp groups as he helped stranded Indians evacuate from Ukraine.

"After that I started getting non-stop phone calls in the middle of the night for rescue operations. The biggest high was the blessings that these Indian students' parents used to give me on the phone or send messages thanking me on WhatsApp," he said.

Following the evacuation of thousands of Indians from the country, Khan did not want to leave Ukraine because half his family is stuck in Sumy where around 700 Indian students were still awaiting evacuation.

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