New Delhi, March 04:
At least 10,800 Indians have been brought back by special flights from Ukraine‘s neighbouring countries under Operation Ganga, the Centre said on Friday. The evacuation process was carried out by three Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft and 14 civilian flights, with one more civilian flight expected to arrive later today.
Meanwhile, two Russian IL-76 strategic lift planes are on standby to fly out to Moscow as soon as Indian nationals evacuated from northeastern cities of Kharkiv and Sumi are taken to the Russian capital.
According to the government, the C-17 aircraft carried 630 passengers, while the civilian flights evacuated 9,364 Indian nationals. A total of seven IAF flights have brought back 1,428 Indian nationals and delivered 9.7 tonnes of relief material to Ukraine.
On Friday, the civilian flights included 4 from Bucharest (Romania), 2 from Kosice (Slovakia), 4 from Budapest (Hungary), 3 from Rzeszow (Poland). The IAF flew 2 flights from Bucharest and 1 from Budapest.
On Saturday, 11 special civilian flights are expected to bring back more than 2200 Indians, with 10 landing in New Delhi and one in Mumbai. Five flights will originate from Budapest, two from Rzeszow and four 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.
