More than 50% of Keralite students who were stranded in war-torn Ukraine had returned home safely, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Sunday.
As per the latest figures, 2,082 evacuated students have reached Kerala via New Delhi and Mumbai till Sunday. The Indian embassies in Hungary and Ukraine stated that Operation Ganga was entering its final stages and anyone who wished to be evacuated should urgently complete the registration, Mr. Vijayan said in a Facebook post.
He urged Keralites still stranded in Ukraine to register themselves with NoRKA-Roots so that the information could be passed on to the Central government. Although the evacuation was entering the final phase, reports said that many people, including Keralites, were still stranded there, he said.
The State government had urged the Ministry of External Affairs to focus on the evacuation of Indians in Sumy city, the Chief Minister said. The first chartered flight of Sunday which landed in Kochi in the morning carried 174 evacuees, and the second one, 180.
On Sunday, NoRKA-Roots also arranged the homeward journey of 132 people who had reached Mumbai. Till Sunday, Air Asia had flown 12 chartered flights for transporting evacuees to Kerala.
