Melissa has Indian students yearning for home

Eighteen Indian students are currently marooned at the All-American Institute of Medical Science in Black River, St Elizabeth, after Hurricane Melissa ripped through the campus and dorms.

The students are now calling on the Indian High Commission in Jamaica to expatriate them.

"We need to go back to India as soon as possible because this is the only campus in Jamaica and it mash up. We don't have nowhere to live," one student said. Making matters worse, the hospitals where they were completing clinicals have patients being relocated due to severe damage to the facilities.

"We stayed at the dialysis centre during the hurricane because we were working there. That's where it caught some of us," said Jerold Premkumar, a student studying in Jamaica for almost four years.

"Everyone had all the [possibility] to die, we just escaped by a slim chance. Even at the dorms we were split in three different groups, so during the storm we didn't know what was happening with each other. We couldn't communicate so we couldn't tell if they were safe," he recalled.

"It was really traumatic for us. It was terrible and we narrowly escaped death," said Tharan Kishore, another student who also demonstrated that the water was knee high. "The wind came in through the back and swept everything to the front and then back. Everything broke out and got stuck. We had to hide behind the washing machine for three hours in a crouching position. Trying to cover our heads and keeping our hands up."

Arun Prakash has a vivid memory of his experience.

"We had gas cylinders and other things near us, the stove everything that was still being lifted by the sea and wind," Prakash said.

"Everything happened so suddenly, it was like a nuclear bomb. It blasted outward and the windows went crashing."

Premkumar indicated that they were able to access the hospital's communication system to talk to their families.

"We talked to them and let them know for now we are safe but they are all scared and they all want us to come back to India right away," he said.

"Our dean is finding some transportation from Kingston to pick us up so we are trying to find out how the road is," Premkumar told our news team.

When asked if they are considering finishing their studies here, Kishore quickly interjected.

"First we have to go to India and then we can decide what the plans are. We just want to get home."

- T.P.