Air India flight carrying students from war-torn Sumy lands in Delhi

New Delhi: An Air India flight carrying students evacuated from the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumi from Rzezow in Poland landed in Delhi on Friday morning, officials told PTI.

He said the flight had departed Razzo at around 11.30 pm (IST) on Thursday and landed in Delhi at 5.45 am on Friday.

According to the details shared by the students with PTI, the first flight was for first, second and third-year students. The second flight is for fourth and fifth-year students and the third is for those with pets, fifth and sixth-year students and for any other who may have been left behind, they said.

India has sent three flights to Poland to bring back 600 students evacuated from Sumy.

Another flight is expected to land in Delhi around 8.40 am, officials said.

The evacuation of Indian students stranded in Sumy began on Tuesday as they boarded buses to head towards central part of the country. As many as 694 people, including families living in Sumy have left for the central Ukrainian city of Poltava.

The process began after the Russian embassy on Tuesday said it will establish a humanitarian corridor to allow civilians to leave besieged Ukrainian cities. A humanitarian corridor is a temporary demilitarised zone that allows evacuations or transport of aid in a crisis-hit area.

The Indian government is carrying out a challenging evacuation exercise under Operation Ganga to help stranded Indians leave Ukraine.

The operation to evacuate the 600 students from Sumy began on Tuesday morning.