New Delhi: In stepping up its effort to evacuate Indians stranded in the conflict zone in Ukraine, Air India has sent its aircraft from the Mumbai airport to the Romanian capital, Bucharest, to bring back citizens on Saturday.
The flight, AI1943, took off from the Mumbai airport around 3.40 AM and is expected to land at the Bucharest airport around 10 AM (Indian Standard Time), senior government officials said, according to PTI.
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After Indian students were asked to reach borders, nationals who have reached the Ukraine-Romania border are now being taken to Bucharest by the Indian government officials and will be further evacuated in the Air India flight, according to officials.
There will be more Air India flights operating on Saturday to Bucharest and Hungarian capital Budapest to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine.
Even as the Ukrainian airspace remains shut for civil aircraft since February 2, the evacuation flights are operating out of Bucharest and Budapest. Around 20,000 Indians, mainly students, are currently stranded in Ukraine, the officials noted.
Just ahead of the closure of the Ukrainian airspace, Air India evacuated 240 citizens from a flight to Ukrainian capital Kyiv on February 22.
Air India said on Twitter on Friday night that it will be operating flights on B787 aircraft from Delhi and Mumbai to Bucharest and Budapest on Saturday as special government charter flights to fly back stranded Indian citizens.
The Indian embassy in Ukraine on Friday said it is working to establish evacuation routes from Romania and Hungary.
“At present, teams are getting in place at the following check points: Chop-Zahony Hungarian border near Uzhhorod, Porubne-Siret Romanian border near Chernivtsi,” it said.
Indians comprised of mostly students who are living closest to these border checkpoints have been asked to depart in an organized manner in coordination with teams from the ministry of external affairs to actualise this option, the embassy said.
Only after the above-mentioned routes are operational, Indians traveling on their own would be advised to proceed to the border checkpoints, it noted.
Indian travelers have been asked to carry their passports, cash (preferably in US dollars), other essential items and Covid-19 vaccination certificates to the border checkpoints. “Print out Indian flag and paste prominently on vehicles and buses while traveling,” it said.
What’s the distance between borders?
The distance between Kyiv and the Romanian border checkpoint is approximately 600 km and takes anywhere between eight-and-a-half hours to 11 hours to cover it by road.
Bucharest is located approximately 500 kilometers from the Romanian border checkpoint and it takes anywhere between seven to nine hours to cover the distance by road.
The distance between Kyiv and the Hungarian border checkpoint is around 820 kilometers and it takes 12-13 hours to cover it by road.
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