An Air India plane took off Saturday morning from Bombay airport bound for Bucharest, the Romanian capital, to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine due to the Russian military offensive. The flight, AI1943, took off from Mumbai airport around 3:40 a.m. and is expected to land at Bucharest airport around 10:00 a.m. Indian Standard Time, senior government officials said.
Indian nationals who have reached the Ukraine-Romania border by road are being taken to Bucharest by Indian government officials so that they can be evacuated on the Air India flight, they noted.
Air India will operate more flights on Saturday to Bucharest and the Hungarian capital Budapest to evacuate Indians stranded in Ukraine.
Ukrainian airspace has been closed to civil air operations since the morning of February 24 and therefore evacuation flights are operating from Bucharest and Budapest.
About 20,000 Indians, mostly students, are currently stranded in Ukraine, officials said.
Prior to the closure of Ukrainian airspace, Air India operated a flight to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on February 22 which brought 240 people back to India.
It had planned to operate two additional flights on February 24 and 26, but was unable to do so as the Russian offensive began on February 24 and Ukrainian airspace was consequently closed.
Air India said on Twitter on Friday evening that it will operate flights on B787 jets from Delhi and Mumbai to Bucharest and Budapest on Saturday as special government charter flights to repatriate stranded Indian citizens.
The Indian Embassy in Ukraine said on Friday it was working to establish evacuation routes from Romania and Hungary.
“Currently, teams are setting up at the following checkpoints: Chop-Zahony on the Hungarian border near Uzhhorod, Porubne-Siret on the Romanian border near Chernivtsi,” he added.
Indian nationals, especially students, living closer to these border checkpoints are advised to leave in an organized manner in coordination with Foreign Ministry teams to materialize this option, the embassy said.
Once the aforementioned routes are operational, Indian nationals traveling alone will be advised to proceed to border checkpoints, he noted.
The embassy advised Indian travelers to bring their passports, cash (preferably in US dollars), other essential items and COVID-19 vaccination certificates at border checkpoints.
“Print the Indian flag and stick it prominently on vehicles and buses during travel,” he said.
The distance from kyiv to the Romanian border checkpoint is about 600 kilometers and it takes between eight and a half and 11 hours to cover it by road.
Bucharest is located about 500 kilometers from the Romanian border checkpoint and it takes between seven and nine hours to cover the distance by road.
The distance from Kyiv to the Hungarian border checkpoint is about 820 kilometers and it takes 12-13 hours to cover it by road.
Also read: India abstains on Security Council resolution ‘deploring’ Russia’s aggression against Ukraine
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