Body Of Indian Student Killed By Russian Shelling In Ukraine Recovered, Preserved In Mortuary

The body of Naveen Shekarappa Gyanagoudar, the Indian student who was killed by a Russian artillery strike at the besieged Ukrainian city of Kharkiv early last week, was recovered and will be brought back to his family in India once the shelling stops.

Basavaraj Bommai, the Chief Minister of Gyanagoudar's home state of Karnataka, said the body has since been embalmed and placed in a sanctuary. He added that the Indian embassy is in touch with the mortuary officials to work toward bringing the deceased 21-year-old's body back home for the last rites.

"I have spoken to the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in this regard. He has informed that the body has been embalmed and preserved at a mortuary. He has assured that as soon as the shelling is stopped, attempts will be made to bring it back to India," Bommai said in a statement Tuesday, according to The Free Press Journal.

The student pursuing medicine at Kharkiv National Medical University was mortally wounded in an artillery strike after he had stepped out to buy some food and exchange currency. Gyanagoudar was the first Indian casualty of the ongoing military onslaught in Ukraine, The Times of India reported.

Nearly 20,000 Indians, majority of whom are students, were stranded in Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion following which the Indian goverment launched a humanitarian rescue mission called Operation Ganga. It has ramped up the effort to evacuate Indian nationals who managed to cross the border from the war-torn nation into the neighboring countries like Hungary, Poland, Romania, Moldova, and Slovakia.

So far, over 17,000 Indians have been airlifted and brought back to their home country.

Meanwhile, reports of another 700 Indian students being stranded in the conflicted northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy emerged. The youngsters, in a heartbreaking video, said they are living in constant fear of airstrikes while having been stripped of basic necessities including water, food, and electricity.

Another Indian student, who was hospitalized after he sustained gunshot wounds in Ukraine's capital city of Kyiv, was evacuated through Poland by Indian Air Force aircraft IAF C17 earlier this week. At the UNSC on Monday, Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for failing to provide safe passage for civilians and foreigners attempting to flee the war.