Air India flight with 219 Indian evacuees takes off from Bucharest for Mumbai

Air India's first evacuation flight took off from Romanian capital Bucharest on Saturday afternoon. The flight is heading to Mumbai with 219 Indian nationals from Ukraine onboard. These Indian nationals and students were stranded in Ukraine after Russia launched a military offensive on the nation on Thursday, officials explained. 

The second Air India evacuation flight departed from Delhi at 11:40 am on Saturday.The flight is expected to land in Romanian capital Bucharest at around 6:30 pm, the official further explained. 

"Indian nationals, who reached the Ukraine-Romania border by road, have been taken to Bucharest by the Indian government officials so that they can be evacuated in the Air India flights," they said.

Air India's first evacuation flight AI944 took off from Bucharest at 1:55 pm. The flight is expected to land at Mumbai airport at around 9 pm, they said.

The second evacuation flight is expected to return to the Delhi airport on early Sunday morning. The second flight is expected to carry another 250 Indian nationals from Ukraine, the official said. 

Air India is expected to operate more flights on Saturday to Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest to evacuate Indians who are stranded in Ukraine.

Around 20,000 Indians, mainly students, are currently stranded in Ukraine, the officials said. The Ukrainian airspace has been closed for civil aircraft operations since February 24 morning and therefore, the evacuation flights are operating out of Bucharest and Budapest. 

Union ministers Piyush Goyal and V Muraleedharan will receive at airports the Indians returning from the war-torn country in government chartered flights, official sources said.

On Friday, the Indian embassy in Warsaw had advised Indian nationals arriving at the Poland-Ukraine border by public conveyance, such as bus or taxi, to go to the Shehyni-Medyka border crossing, not the Karkowiec crossing.

The embassy added that Poland's government is allowing people to cross the border on foot only via the Shehyni-Medyka border point. The embassy explained that the Karkowiec crossing is only for persons travelling in their own vehicles. 

(with PTI inputs)

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