Around 85 Indian students who have been trapped for a week at the University of Pavia in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, which has confirmed 17 deaths from coronavirus over the last few days and have sent SOS for seeking early evacuation. Some of these students had even booked on flights to fly to India but in the wake of the new coronavirus cases being reported in Italy those flights got canceled.
Panic amongst the trapped students has risen since a non-teaching faculty member of the University of Pavia’s engineering department was tested positive for novel coronavirus. Around 15 staff members from the University have been quarantined to avoid further spread of this epidemic.
A student from Pavia University said that half of them had booked tickets to return to India, but flights are getting canceled every day and new tickets are very expensive. The student further added that the grocery shops there are running out of stock and the situation might get worse. He also requested the Government of India to step in and take some action.
Out of the 85 students stranded in Pavia University, 25 are from Telangana, 20 from Karnataka, 15 from Tamil Nadu, 4 from Kerala, 2 from Delhi and one each from Rajasthan, Gurgaon, and Dehradun.
A student amongst them is scheduled to fly back to India on 10th March but certainly the sudden cancellation of flights is bothering him.