IAF’s sorties brought back 2,056 Indians from Ukraine

New Delhi, Mar 05: Three C-17 heavy lift transport aircraft of the IAF, which had taken off yesterday from the Hindon air base, landed at the same airbase this 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.

Till date the IAF has flown 10 sorties to bring back 2,056 passengers, while taking 26 tonnes of relief load to these countries, as part of Operation Ganga.

Meanwhile, IndiGo said it will operate 12 evacuation flights with over 2,600 Indians from war-torn Ukraine's neighbouring countries between Friday and Sunday, news agency PTI reported.

India has been evacuating its citizens through special flights from Ukraine's western neighbours such as Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland as the Ukrainian airspace has been shut since February 24 due to a Russian military offensive.

In a statement, IndiGo said 42 evacuation flights with 9,200 Indians had been scheduled to operate between February 28 and March 6. "We have already operated 30 flights bringing back more than 6,600 of our citizens till today," the airline's Chief Operating Officer Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said on Friday.

Twelve flights with over 2,600 Indians will be operated by India's largest airline between March 4 and March 6. "We are humbled to fulfil our responsibility by operating more than 50 per cent of the flights under Operation Ganga and contribute towards the repatriation efforts by the Indian government," Prock-Schauer said.

IndiGo's flights are operating to India from Bucharest and Suceava in Romania, Budapest in Hungry, Rzeszow and Warsaw in Poland, and Kosice in Slovakia.

(With PTI inputs)