New Delhi: Over 2,000 Indian nationals are expected to be evacuated under the ‘Operation Ganga’ on Saturday.
The Centre has initiated an airlift operation to evacuate Indians, who have found their way to neighbouring countries of war-torn Ukraine. It has deployed a number of special charter as well as Indian Air Force flights to ferry back the citizens.
“Tomorrow, 11 special civilian flights are expected to bring back more than 2,200 Indians, with 10 landing in New Delhi and one in Mumbai,” a statement by the Ministry of Civil Aviation said.
“Five flights will originate from Budapest, 2 from Rzeszow and 4 from Suceava. Four C-17 aircraft are airborne for Romania, Poland and Slovakia, which are expected to reach late at night and early morning tomorrow.”
On Friday, 17 special flights arrived back to India from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries, including 14 civilian flights and three C-17 IAF flights.
“One more civilian flight is expected to arrive later in the day. While civilian flights carried 3,142 persons, C-17 flights evacuated 630 passengers.”
As per the statement, so far, over 9,364 Indians have been evacuated by 43 special civilian flights.
“Seven flights of C-17 have so far evacuated 1,428 passengers and taken 9.7 tonnes of relief material. Today’s civilian flights included 4 from Bucharest, 2 from Kosice, 4 from Budapest, 3 from Rzeszow and 2 from Suceava, while IAF flew 2 flights from Bucharest and 1 from Budapest.”
The Centre has also sent four Union Ministers -- Hardeep Singh Puri, Kiren Rijiju, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Gen V.K. Singh (retd) -- to countries adjoining Ukraine to support and supervise the ongoing evacuation operations.
Over 20,000 Indians have left Ukraine so far, says MEA
Speaking at the special briefing on Operation Ganga to bring back Indian citizens from Ukraine amid Russia’s military operations, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday that over 20,000 Indians have left Ukraine since our first travel advisory was issued.
During a daily briefing, the official spokesperson of MEA Arindam Bagchi said that there are more people, but it’s reassuring to see that these many people have left Ukraine.
“Over 20,000 Indians have left the Ukraine borders since we issued our advisories. There are more people, but it’s reassuring to see that these many people have left Ukrainian borders,” he said.
“During the 24 hours, 18 flights have landed in India with around 4,000 Indians on board. The total number of flights that have landed have been 48, carrying 10348 Indians,” he said.
New entry point opens on Slovakia-Ukraine border for Indians’ evacuation
The Indian Embassy in Slovakia on Friday said that Indian nationals from western and north-western Ukraine are now coming to the newly-identified border checkpoint at Vysne Nemecke to ramp up the evacuation.
According to the officials in the Indian mission, Vysne Nemecke is a small village on the Slovakia- Ukraine border and opposite Ukraine’s Uzhhorod city. From here, the evacuated Indians are transported to the regional capital, Kosice, from where the Indian flights under ‘Operation Ganga’ are being operated.
The officials in the Indian mission in Slovakia have made arrangements for Indian nationals entering Slovakia from Vysne Nemecke.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has personally visited the site to see the arrangement made there for Indian students who have been advised to get to Slovakia’s Kosice, instead of going to Budapest in Hungary.
Rijiju also received the first group of Indian nationals, mostly students, on Thursday evening at Vysne Nemecke, before they were transported to Kosice, from where they were flown out to India on an Indian Air Force transport aircraft.
The first SpiceJet flight with evacuated Indian nationals took off from Kosice in Slovakia on March 1.
Government sources said that since the Russian has started military actions in other cities too, the government wants to scale up the evacuation mission to airlift Indians. Similar attempts have been made in other countries too in coordination with local governments, the sources further said.
Meanwhile, another Special Envoy, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, stationed in Budapest, on Friday afternoon said that a group of 1,000 Indian nationals who came into Hungary via Zahony, are being sent to Budapest by train.
