LIVE: Operation Ganga for Indians students in Ukraine - Helpline numbers, email IDs, Twitter handle, latest flight news on evacuation mission

Sixth flight from Budapest takes off with 240 Indians

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Monday said that the sixth flight from Budapest has departed for New Delhi with 240 Indian passengers onboard under `Operation Ganga`.

Taking to Twitter, he said, "Sixth #OperationGanga flight from Budapest. To Delhi with 240 Indian nationals."

The officials in the government said that over 1,137 students have so far been evacuated from war torn Ukraine and arrived in India.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday reviewed the progress of evacuation of Indian nationals from Ukraine and decided to send four Union Ministers as Special Envoy to the neighbouring countries of Ukraine to oversee the evacuation mission under Operation Ganga.

According to officials, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia will be going to Romania and Moldova, Kiren Rijiju to Slovakia, Hardeep Singh Puri to Hungary and Gen V.K. Singh (Retd) to Poland.

The Indian Embassy in Kiev on Monday said that the weekend curfew has been lifted and all students are advised to make their way to the railway station for onward journeys to the western parts.

They also said that the Ukraine Railways is putting special trains for evacuation and the Indian students will not have to pay anything for the journey as it is free of cost for them.

The Indian embassy in Kiev also said that the curfew has been lifted so that Indian students can reach the exit points on the Ukrainian border to make entry to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania.

Ukraine crisis: Spicejet, AI Express, IndiGo operating special evacuation flights for Indians 

-SpiceJet, Air India Express and IndiGo will operate special flights from Hungarian capital Budapest and Romania's Bucharest on Monday and Tuesday to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine due to the Russian military offensive.

-India on Saturday began the evacuation of its citizens from Romania and Hungary -- countries sharing borders with Ukraine -- as the Ukrainian airspace has been closed since February 24 when the military offensive began.

-Tata Group-owned Air India has evacuated 1,396 Indian nationals in six evacuation flights till now.

- Around 14,000 Indians, mainly college students, are currently stranded in Ukraine.

-SpiceJet said it will use its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft for this special flight that will depart from Delhi on Monday evening.

-"The aircraft will fly to Budapest from Delhi and the return flight will operate via Kutaisi, Georgia," it mentioned.

-SpiceJet said it is planning to operate more evacuation flights and is in discussion with the authorities concerned.

-Tata Group-owned Air India Express said it will operate a Bucharest-Mumbai flight on Monday night with 182 stranded passengers.

-"The flight will have a stopover at Kuwait for refuelling. It will land in Mumbai at 9:30 am tomorrow (Tuesday)," it added.

-IndiGo said it is operating two evacuation flights using A321 aircraft to bring back Indian citizens safely, following the crisis in Ukraine.

-Both the flights will land in Delhi on Tuesday, it noted.

-"These flights are being operated from Delhi to Bucharest in Romania and Budapest in Hungary via Istanbul, Monday, as part of the Indian government's Operation Ganga mission," it mentioned.

- India's largest airline said it is closely liaising with the government to offer its support for more such evacuations flights. 

- "The Ministry of External Affairs, under the direct supervision of the External Affairs Minister, and the overall guidance of the prime minister is doing everything possible to make sure that the safety, security and the interests of our citizens in Ukraine are given the highest priority," Shringla said.

-India on Friday managed to set up camp offices in Lviv and Chernivtsi towns in western Ukraine to facilitate the transit of Indians to Hungary, Romania and Poland.

-India has already evacuated over 2,000 of its citizens from Ukraine and more than 1,000 of them have been brought back home on chartered flights from Hungary and Romania.

- The areas in the east of Ukraine including Kharkiv and Sumy are the conflict zones and India has been focusing on taking out its citizens from these areas to the country's western region for their subsequent evacuation through border crossings to Hungary, Romania, Poland and Slovakia.

- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, meanwhile, said the sixth flight under India's evacuation mission 'Operation Ganga' left for Delhi from Budapest with 240 Indian nationals.

- "Sixth #OperationGanga flight from Budapest. To Delhi with 240 Indian nationals," he tweeted.

- Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Sunday said the main concern for India is ensuring the safety of its nationals stuck in areas witnessing intense fighting including in Kyiv that has around 2,000 Indians.

Operation Ganga: Stranded Indian citizens in Kyiv asked to move to railway station for onward journey

- The Indian embassy in Ukraine on Monday advised all Indian students stranded in Kyiv to reach the railway station in the Ukrainian capital for their onward journey to the western parts of the war-torn country.

-It said the weekend curfew in Kyiv has been lifted and they can go to the railway station to get out of the city.

- "Weekend curfew lifted in Kyiv. All students are advised to make their way to the railway station for onward journey to the western parts.Ukraine Railways is putting special trains for evacuations," the embassy tweeted.

 

Operation Ganga: Control rooms, helpline - Slovakia

- The helpline numbers of the control room in Slovakia are +421 252631377, +421 252962916 and +421 951697560.

- The email address is hoc.Bratislava@mea.Gov.In. 

Operation Ganga: Control rooms, helpline  - Hungary

- The MEA said Indians can contact the control room in Hungary on phone numbers +36 308517373, +36 13257742 and +36 13257743. 

- It also has a WhatsApp number: +36 308517373 for assistance.

Operation Ganga: Control rooms, helpline  - Romania

-The helpline numbers of the control room in Romania are: +40732124309, +40771632567, +40745161631 and +40741528123. 

- The email address for contacting the control room in Romania is controlroombucharest@gmail.Com.

Operation Ganga: Control rooms, helpline  - Poland

- The helpline numbers of the control room in Poland are: +48225400000, +48795850877 and +48792712511. 

- Those requiring help can also write an email to controlroominwarsaw@gmail.Com, according to the MEA.

Operation Ganga: Control rooms, helpline 

- India has already set up round-the-clock "control centres" in Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia to assist in the evacuation of Indian nationals from Ukraine through border-crossing points with these countries.

MEA activates dedicated Twitter handle to assist evacuation of Indians from Ukraine

- The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Sunday activated a dedicated Twitter handle, "OpGanga Helpline" (@opganga), to assist in the evacuation of Indian nationals from war-torn Ukraine.

- The mission to evacuate the stranded Indians from Ukraine has been named as "Operation Ganga".