New Delhi: About 3,000 Indians have been airlifted on Saturday by 15 special flights from Ukraine's neighbouring countries under 'Operation Ganga' to rescue Indian citizens, according to the press release issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation today.

These 15 special flights included 12 special civilian and 3 Indian Air Force flights, the ministry said.

With this, more than 13,700 Indians have been brought back since the special flights began on February 22, 2022. The number of Indians brought back by 55 special civilian flights goes up to 11,728. To date, the IAF has flown 10 sorties to bring back 2,056 passengers, while taking 26 tonnes of relief load to these countries, as part of Operation Ganga, it said.

Further, the ministry said, "Three C-17 heavy-lift transport aircraft of the IAF, which had taken off yesterday from the Hindan airbase, 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 the morning today, while a flight from Kosice to Delhi is expected to arrive late in the evening. Today's civilian flights included 5 from Budapest, 4 from Suceava, 1 from Kosice and 2 from Rzeszow," it added.

A total of 11 special flights are expected to operate from Budapest, Kosice, Rzeszow and Bucharest tomorrow, bringing in more than 2,200 Indians back home, it said.