‘Operation Ganga’, the evacuation mission initiated by the Indian government to bring back Indians from Ukraine amid the war, is all set to conclude with its last flight scheduled for Thursday evening. The Embassy in Romania informed that around 8,000 Indians had been evacuated from capital Bucharest and the last flight from the city would depart today.
According to reports, the evacuation of almost all the Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine would be complete by March 10. People familiar with the development further informed the Business Line that the Indian mission has planned to continue to look for people who may have stayed back in some isolated pockets.
“Nearly 8,000 Indians evacuated through Romania. The last special flight will depart from Bucharest today. We express our gratitude to the government and people of Romania for their help. Long live India-Romania friendship!,” the Indian embassy in Romania tweeted.
Nearly 8000 Indians evacuated through Romania. The last special flight will depart from Bucharest today. We express our gratitude to government and people of Romania for their help. Long live India-Romania friendship! @NicolaeCiuca
— India in Romania (@eoiromania) March 9, 2022
@BogdanAurescu
@DrSJaishankar
@MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/jtIOu6zA1i
Pertinently, all the Indian students who were stuck in the conflict-ridden city of Sumy were also moved to a safer location. The Indian Embassy in Ukraine said that special trains had been flagged off to relocate 600 Indian students from Sumy. “They will travel to Poland and are expected to board evacuation flights to India tomorrow”, the tweet read.
Ambassador flags off special train with 600 🇮🇳n students from Sumy University at Lviv Railway Station. They will travel to Poland and are expected to board evacuation flights to 🇮🇳 tomorrow.
— India in Ukraine (@IndiainUkraine) March 9, 2022
Be Safe Be Strong pic.twitter.com/6KYSAMxl9U
Operation Ganga was launched on February 26 to evacuate nearly 20,000 Indian nationals who were stuck in Ukraine amid the conflict. Several special flights had been running from Poland, Romania, and Hungary to bring the students home. Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, and SpiceJet had also joined the mission operating multiple flights from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries to Delhi and Mumbai.
Jyotiraditya Scindia, Minister of Civil Aviation had earlier informed that the Indian government had been working 24/7 to ensure that all Indians could get out of Ukraine safe. “There were 19760 odd children in Ukraine. Before the war broke out, through the advisories, about 4800 children had already left”, he had said.
It must be mentioned that the Ukrainian airspace was closed for civilian aircraft from the day the war between Russia and Ukraine broke out. As such, the Indian embassy in Ukraine had to coordinate with the embassies of neighbouring countries in Poland, Romania and Hungary for the creation of safe evacuation channels. Under ‘Operation Ganga’, Indians were first taken in batches from Ukraine to bordering countries via buses/commute arranged by the embassy. They were then airlifted to Delhi or Mumbai through chartered Air India flights.
The Indian government had sent its 4 Union Ministers, namely, Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiren Rijiju and General (Retd) VK Singh to Hungary, Romania and Moldova, Slovakia, and Poland respectively, to coordinate the Operation Ganga
