Air India Express flight carrying 182 evacuees from Ukraine lands in Mumbai

Mumbai:  An Air India Express flight carrying 182 Indian nationals, mostly students, evacuated from Ukraine landed here from the Romanian capital Bucharest on Tuesday morning, an airline spokesperson said.

Union MSME Minister Narayan Rane received them at the Mumbai airport, the spokesperson added.

The AI Express flight IX-1202 from Bucharest via Kuwait touched down at the airport at 7.40 am.

Of 182 passengers, 25 were from Maharashtra, 38 from Haryana, 34 from Uttar Pradesh, 10 from Gujarat and the remaining 75 from other parts of the country, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) later said in a release. Air India Express is the international budget arm of Air India, which is now owned by the Tata Group.

The airport operator also said that complying with the instructions of the Mumbai civic body BMC, government and Airport Health Organization (APHO), it undertook several measures to facilitate a smooth transit of the passengers to their respective destinations while adhering to all necessary norms and COVID-19 protocols.

Air India had operated the first chartered flight to Mumbai from Bucharest with 219 Indian evacuees from Ukraine on Saturday.

India began evacuation of its citizens from Romania and Hungary — western neighbours of Ukraine — on Saturday after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Union minister Rane addressed the students inside the aircraft.

The passengers were later received at the aerobridge by airport officials who escorted them out and ensured their exit on priority, CSMIA said.

CSMIA, in coordination with travel operators, assisted some 85 passengers with their domestic onward ticket booking, it said. One of the students who returned by the AI Express flight said the plight of those stuck in eastern parts of Ukraine, which is largely affected by the Russian attack, is worse, as they can not reach the western borders easily.

”We hid in our hostels for a couple of days and then managed to reach the western border quickly. Thousands of students in educational institutions in the eastern parts of Ukraine are facing a grim situation as travelling by road from there is extremely difficult,” said Nishi Malkani who studied in a university in western Ukraine.

Poorva Patil, another student, thanked God for the safe return.

Narrating her experience, Patil said, “First, we were asked to stay inside our hostel rooms and were later sheltered in bunkers. It was severe cold with temperature around 2 degrees Celsius. We travelled almost 10 km by hiring a bus to reach near the Romanian border.”