SpiceJet, IndiGo join evacuation efforts; Kiren Rijiju, Hardeep Puri on board
New Delhi, March 1: A special evacuation flight will depart from New Delhi to Slovakia's Kosice on Tuesday to bring back Indian nationals stranded in Ukraine. Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju will be on-board the flight as a special envoy of the Indian Government to supervise the evacuation process.
Meanwhile, a special Indigo flight with Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on board is already on its way to Budapest in order to bring back stranded Indian students.
"All set to bring back our young students back home safely. Enroute to #Budapest with a refuelling stop in Istanbul with the ever efficient 6E boys & girls," tweeted Hardeep Puri as he shared a picture with flight staff heading towards the neighbouring country of war-torn Ukraine.
The SpiceJet flight is scheduled to leave New Delhi at 3:30 p.m. IST and land in Kosice, Slovakia at 7:50 p.m. IST. For the special flight, the airline will employ its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
The plane will fly directly from Delhi to Kosice, with a technical halt in Kutaisi, Georgia, on the way back. The plane is expected to return to India at 7:40 a.m on March 3.
Also Read | Russia-Ukraine war: Indian embassy advises its citizens to leave Kiev urgently
This comes as Prime Minister Narendra Modi dispatched four Union Ministers to Ukraine's neighbouring countries on Monday to coordinate the evacuation of Indians stranded there due to ongoing Russian military operations.
Other ministers who will manage evacuations are Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia in Romania and Molodova and Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport Gen (Retd) VK Singh in Poland.
This is the second SpiceJet evacuation flight under 'operation Ganga' after a special flight left for Budapest, Hungary on Monday night. The airline is working closely with the concerned authorities in order to operate more evacuation flights in the coming days.
The government of India has launched 'Operation Ganga' to bring back stranded students and Indian nationals from war-torn Ukraine.
Besides IndiGo and SpiceJet, Air India and Air India Express are also working closely with the Indian Government to coordinate with the process of evacuation.
Also Read | Why is Russia declaring war against Ukraine? Here’s what you should know
-PTC News
