NE NEW SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MAR 3
The Indian Air Force and Indian carriers will operate 19 flights to bring back 3,726 Indians from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries to India on Thursday, Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said.
Under Operation Ganga, eight flights of the IAF, Air India and IndiGo will operate from the Romanian capital Bucharest to India on Thursday, he said on Twitter.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is using its C-17 military transport aircraft for this evacuation operation.
With all hands on deck & the direction of PM @narendramodi Ji, we will get 3726 of our people back home today. Jai Hind! #OperationGanga https://t.co/83Rg0c9lAk
— Jyotiraditya M. Scindia (मोदी का परिवार) (@JM_Scindia) March 3, 2022
India has been evacuating its citizens through special flights from Ukraine’s western neighbours such as Romania, Hungary and Poland as the Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24 due to the Russian military offensive. The minister said two flights of IndiGo will depart from Romanian city Suceava and one flight of SpiceJet will leave from Slovakian city Kosice on Thursday.
The IAF, Go First and Air India will operate five flights from Hungarian capital Budapest to India on Thursday, he said, adding IndiGo will operate two flights from Polish city Rzeszow to India the same day. “With all hands on deck and the direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, we will get 3,726 of our people back home today. Jai Hind!” Scindia tweeted.
Four Evacuation Flights of IAF with 798 Indians Reach Hindon Airbase Amid War in Ukraine
The IAF’s four evacuation flights with 798 Indians from the Romanian capital Bucharest, Hungary’s Budapest and Polish city Rzeszow landed at the Hindon airbase here on Thursday morning, sources said. The Indian Air Force’s first flight carrying 200 people from Bucharest landed at 1.30 am and Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt welcomed them at the airbase, they noted.
All four IAF flights were conducted using C-17 military transport aircraft, sources said. India has been evacuating its citizens through special flights from Ukraine’s western neighbours such as Romania, Hungary and Poland as the Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24 due to the Russian military offensive.
The second evacuation flight of the IAF with 210 Indians from Budapest landed at the Hindon airbase on Thursday morning, sources mentioned. A little while after the second, the IAF’s third evacuation flight arrived at the airbase from Rzeszow with 208 Indians, they said, adding the fourth flight brought 180 Indians from Bucharest. Four Union ministers have gone to Ukraine’s western neighbours to facilitate the evacuation of Indian nationals.
Hardeep Singh Puri is in Hungary, Jyotiraditya Scindia is in Romania, Kiren Rijiju is in Slovakia and V K Singh is in Poland.
Flight from Bucharest Carrying 183 Indians Stranded in Ukraine Lands in Mumbai
As part of #OpGanga, the first #IAF C-17 returned to Hindan airbase near Delhi, from Bucharest on 03 March at 1:00 AM carrying 200 passengers, mostly students.#HarKaamDeshKeNaam pic.twitter.com/GYTxqOxmCE
— Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) March 3, 2022
A flight from Bucharest carrying 183 Indians stranded in Ukraine landed in Mumbai Thursday, an official said. An infant was among the passengers, the official said.
Welcome from #Bucharest , #Romania in #India. Power of 🇮🇳.@JM_Scindia #RussiaUkraineWar #OperationGanga @IAF_MCC #HindanAirbase pic.twitter.com/WU1FgpxKtF
— Manish Prasad (@manishindiatv) March 2, 2022
Union minister Raosaheb Danve welcomed passengers of the third evacuation flight from Bucharest to Mumbai, as soon as the Air India Express Flight IX 1202 landed here around 5.30 am. “I have been asked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to welcome you. There were around 17,000 Indians, including students, stranded there (in Ukraine) and the PM started Operation Ganga to evacuate them,” Danve said, interacting with passengers, many of them students, inside the aircraft.
Around four to five thousand Indians have been brought home so far and the operation will continue to bring back those still stranded there to the country, the minister said. An Air India Express flight carrying 182 Indians from Ukraine had landed in Mumbai from the Romanian capital Bucharest on Tuesday morning.
That was the second evacuation flight operated to Mumbai from Bucharest to bring back Indians from war-ravaged Ukraine since February 27.
