Ukraine crisis: 229 Indian nationals reach Delhi from Romania via special Indigo flight

Over 2,000 Indian nationals are expected to be evacuated from Ukraine under 'Operation Ganga' on Saturday.

Pic Courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: As the evacuation of stranded nationals in Ukraine continue, a special Indigo flight carrying 229 Indian nationals arrived in Delhi on Saturday (March 5) from Suceava in Romania. 

India has been evacuating its citizens from the countries bordering Ukraine including Romania, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, Kiren Rijiju, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Gen V.K. Singh (retd) are currently in the countries adjoining Ukraine to supervise the ongoing evacuation under 'Operation Ganga'.

#OperationGanga | A special Indigo flight, carrying 229 Indian nationals from #Ukraine, arrives in Delhi from Suceava in Romania pic.twitter.com/mucdrnJk1R — ANI (@ANI) March 5, 2022

On Friday, the Indian Embassy in Romania notified a hotline number for students, who left Ukraine and are still in Bucharest, waiting to be evacuated to India. Taking to Twitter, the embassy wrote, “Indian students who are still in Bucharest may please get in touch with the Embassy on hotline number +40 725964976 for evacuation by flights leaving in the next two days.” 

Meanwhile, over 2,000 Indian nationals are expected to be evacuated under 'Operation Ganga' on Saturday, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement. 

"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," the statement read as per IANS. 

"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," the ministry added. 

On Friday, 17 special flights landed in India from Ukraine`s neighbouring countries, including 14 civilian flights and three C-17 IAF flights.

MoS MEA V. Muraleedharan said in a tweet that around 11,000 Indians have been evacuated from Ukraine so far.

(With agency inputs)