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Rabat – After a 35-hour car ride, a Moroccan student shared with a Moroccan TV channel a horror story beginning with waking up to the sound of distant airstrikes.
“We woke up at 5 a.m yesterday (24, February) to the sound of intense airstrikes off the city. I felt the window under strain,” Mohammed, a Moroccan student in Kharkov, a city in northeastern Ukraine, told a Moroccan TV channel.
“We decided to leave Kharkov by car on a journey from the extreme east of the country to the extreme west to the border city of Lviv,” Mohamed explained.
After reaching Lviv, Mohammed and his friends found themselves facing a long queue of people waiting to leave Ukraine to Poland. “The border authorities only admit two cars every 20 minutes,” Mohammed said.
When asked about the details of their journey to Lviv, Mohammed said that they traversed over 1200 kilometers.
The journey took longer than the average stuck in traffic. “We crossed over 200 kilometers with a maximum speed of 25 kilometers an hour. The road was jammed with people fleeing the war, driving under military aircrafts,” narrated the young man.
On their way to Lviv, the Moroccan students dodged major cities to avert the danger of war and to avoid continuous police and military barricades and traffic, making their journey even longer. “We were stopped several times, with police asking questions and inspecting our vehicle for weapons and illegal substances and asking to see identity documents,” recalled Mohammed.
“We reached out to the Moroccan embassy in Poland, they responded promptly, and a lady told us that we won’t have any issue crossing to Poland once we reach the border-crossing point.”
The young man extended his sympathy and support to the people who have not been able to make it ouf major Ukrainian cities being targeted by columns of Russian troops.
“Our hearts go to others who are still stuck back, especially in Kharkov, as news has reached us that airstrikes have intensified since we have left,” continued Mohammed.
He added, “Some people were late to react, they remained until the air raid sirens sounded off and after the army was deployed, we’re wondering how they can be evacuated.”
At the time of the interview, Mohammed and his friends were waiting behind a 10-kilometer long queue to get their chance to cross to safety.
Read Also: Moroccan Expatriates Create Collective to Assist Moroccans in Ukraine
