Operation Ganga: With 3000 Indians airlifted today, over 13,700 have been brought back by special flights

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has informed that on March 5, 3000 students have been airlifted from the neighbouring countries of Ukraine under the ongoing rescue mission Operation Ganga.

The Ministry of External Affairs has initiated Operation Ganga to evacuate Indian students and nationals stranded in various parts of Ukraine which is under military operation from Russia.

In a press statement, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said, “Under ‘Operation Ganga’ to rescue Indian citizens, about 3000 Indians have been airlifted today by 15 special flights from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries. These included 12 special civilian and 3 IAF flights. With this, more than 13 thousand 7 hundred Indians have been brought back since the special flights began on 22nd February, 2022.”

“The number of Indians brought back by 55 special civilian flights goes up to 11728. Till date, the IAF has flown 10 sorties to bring back 2056 passengers, while taking 26 tonnes of relief load to these countries, as part of Op Ganga,” it added.

The Ministry also informed that three C-17 heavy lift transport aircraft of the IAF, which had taken off yesterday from the Hindan air base, landed back at Hindan today morning.

“These flights evacuated 629 Indian nationals from Romania, Slovakia and Poland. These flights also carried 16.5 tonnes of relief load from India to these countries. All Civilian flights, except one, had landed during morning today, while flight from Kosice to New Delhi is expected to arrive late in the evening. Today’s civilian flights included 5 from Budapest, 4 from Suceva, 1 from Kosice and 2 from Rzeszow,” the Ministry said.

It added, “Tomorrow, 11 special flights are expected to operate from Budapest, Kosice, Rzeszow and Bucharest, bringing in more than 2200 Indians back home.”