New Delhi, Mar 5 : Under ‘Operation Ganga’ to rescue Indian citizens, about 3000 Indians have been airlifted on Saturday by 15 special flights from Ukraine’s neighbouring countries, the Civil Aviation Ministry said in a statement. These included 12 special civilian and three Indian Air Force flights. “With this, more than 13 thousand 7 hundred Indians have been brought back since the special flights began on 22nd February, 2022. The number of Indians brought back by 55 special civilian flights goes up to 11728. Till date, the IAF has flown 10 sorties to bring back 2056 passengers, while taking 26 tonnes of relief load to these countries, as part of Op Ganga,” the statement said. Three C-17 heavy lift transport aircraft of the IAF, which had taken off yesterday from the Hindan air base, landed back at Hindan today morning. These flights evacuated 629 Indian nationals from Romania, Slovakia and Poland. These flights also carried 16.5 tonnes of relief load from India to these countries. All Civilian flights, except one, had landed during morning today, while flight from Kosice to New Delhi is expected to arrive late in the evening. Today’s civilian flights included 5 from Budapest, 4 from Suceva, 1 from Kosice and 2 from Rzeszow. The Ministry said tomorrow, 11 special flights are expected to operate from Budapest, Kosice, Rzeszow and Bucharest, bringing in more than 2200 Indians back home. AO SHK1840