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Families await evacuation of Indonesian workers trapped in Ukraine
Families of nine North Sumatran workers are calling on the Indonesian government to immediately evacuate their relatives who are trapped in Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine.
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Refugees from multiple countries, mostly students of Ukrainian universities, wait to flee the conflict in Ukraine, at the Medyka pedestrian border crossing in eastern Poland on Feb. 27, 2022. (AFP/Wotjek Radwanski)
F
amilies of nine North Sumatran workers are calling on the Indonesian government to immediately evacuate their relatives who are trapped in Chernihiv, a city in northern Ukraine, as war rages following Russia’s invasion.
Ayi Rodiah said her husband Iskandar, their 23-year-old son and their colleagues were stuck in a bunker at a plastic company compound. Ayi said she was very worried about their safety. In their communications, Iskandar said while they were safe, they were very afraid whenever they heard explosions.
“In our video calls, I can see that they are not in a safe location. Every time there’s the sound of an explosion, I’m afraid for their lives. Please evacuate them,” Ayi pleaded to the representatives of the Foreign Ministry and the Indonesian Embassy in Ukraine during a teleconference on Monday.
Iskandar and five of the North Sumatran workers are from Binjai City; the other three are from Langkat regency.
In the same teleconference, Iskandar said he and seven of his work colleagues were still hiding in the factory.
“Thank God we are all still healthy and alive,” Iskandar said. He said that there were heavy attacks on Chernihiv from the fifth to the eighth day of the invasion.
“We ran to the bunker to hide. The explosions shook the factory,” said Iskandar who left for Ukraine in 2018. His son Aris Wahyudi and four others followed in his footsteps in 2019.
