Operation Ganga: Nine flights with evacuees from Ukraine to reach India on March 4
New Delhi, March 2: In a bid to further scale up the evacuation efforts, nine flights will take off on March 4 from neighbouring countries of war-torn Ukraine with stranded Indian nationals under 'Operation Ganga', informed the government sources on Tuesday.
A total of 16 flights have already evacuated stranded Indians from Ukraine till today and the government has accelerated the evacuation plan to bring its citizens back. The number of flights has been increased to bring more and more Indians.
By March 4, a total of 36 flights, belonging to the fleet of Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo and Spice Jet, are set to evacuate the stranded Indians.
According to sources, the first flight that will be taking off on March 4 from the Romanian capital Bucharest is IndiGo. IndiGo flight which has a capacity to carry 216 passengers on board will depart at 2:30 hours and will land at Delhi Airport at 2:30 am on March 4.
As many as six flights are from IndiGo, and the rest belong to Air India, Air India Express and Spice Jet.
Sources further added that approximately 1800 Indians will be evacuated from Ukraine by these nine flights, which are scheduled to take off from Budapest, Bucharest and Rzeszow.
Also Read | Why is Russia declaring war against Ukraine? Here’s what you should know
On March 4, the Air India flight will take off from Bucharest at 5:30 pm and its landing is scheduled at Mumbai Via Kuwait at 6 AM.
All other flights will also land at the Delhi airport.
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the third high-level meeting on the Ukraine-Russia crisis, the Indian Air Force (IAF) was also called into service in the evacuation process.
Two Indian Air Force aircraft took off from Hindon airbase on Wednesday for Romania and Hungary to bring Indians stuck in Ukraine home. Tents, blankets, and other humanitarian aid are being delivered by Indian Air Force aircraft.
Today, three additional Indian Air Force planes are scheduled to fly to Poland, Hungary, and Romania to bring Indians back from Ukraine. One C-17 Globemaster took off for Romania at 4 a.m. on Wednesday as part of 'Operation Ganga.'
Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar tweeted that six flights have left for India in the last 24 hours, including the first flights from Poland, with 1377 more Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine.
Also Read | Russia-Ukraine war to severely affect Hyundai Motor Group
-PTC News
