The flight, AI1943, took off from the Mumbai airport around 3.40 am and is expected to land at the Bucharest airport around 10 am (Indian Standard Time), senior government officials said.
Heavy rainfall across North India leads to fatalities, structural damage, travel disruptions, and school closures. Eastern states brace for more rain.
France has evacuated some Indians along with citizens of 27 other countries as part of its evacuation mission from violence-hit Sudan.
Heavy rains in Maharashtra have caused floods, road blockages, and widespread damage, resulting in casualties and displacement. The state government is monitoring the situation and coordinating rescue efforts.
These flights belong to the fleet of Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, Spice Jet, Vistara, Go Air, and also planes from Air Force.
'I hear that there are some 10,000 Indians stuck in Iran, including nearly 4,000 students from Kashmir. But, I do not know any of them. Here I am all by myself and the embassy has asked me not to venture out far from my hotel. People here are going about their daily lives despite the bombings'
The Indian Air Force's first flight carrying 200 people from Bucharest landed at 1.30 am and Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt welcomed them at the airbase, they noted.
President Mohamed Muizzu, known for his pro-China stance, has thanked India for enabling the resumption of medical evacuation services with civilian aviation personnel from India.
As many as 31 evacuation flights will be operated to neighbouring countries of crisis-hit Ukraine and will bring back more than 6,300 Indians stranded in the eastern European nation, according to official sources.
On May 28, following the bomb threat, which later turned out to be hoax, all the passengers were evacuated through emergency slides from the aircraft at the Delhi airport.
Lightning claims more lives in India annually than any other extreme weather event. Between April and July this year alone, 1,621 people died due to lightning strikes.
Three evacuation flights from Romania's capital Bucharest and Hungary's capital Budapest came to India on Tuesday with 616 Indian nationals who were stranded in Ukraine due to the Russian military offensive, officials said.
India on Sunday brought back nearly 400 people, including 329 of its nationals and two Afghan lawmakers, in three different flights as part of its efforts to evacuate its citizens from Kabul in the backdrop of the deteriorating situation in the city after its takeover by the Taliban
The passengers were offloaded and the aircraft was moved to an isolation bay for further inspection, airport sources said.
The incident happened while the Kochi-bound Boeing 737-800 aircraft was taxiing and after the warning, the passengers were evacuated as a precautionary measure, the source said.
The pilot of the aircraft informed the ATC about the threat after a 'Bomb in flight' message, written on a tissue paper, was found in the washroom of the plane, they said.
The aircraft landed at Dushanbe in Tajikistan after evacuating the Indians, they said, adding the flight is expected to arrive at the Hindon airbase near Delhi in the evening.
'Tom Curran went to the airport, but heard that the airport was closed.' 'Then he started crying like a little child. It took two or three people to handle him.'
The officials said the passengers on board the aircraft were evacuated through emergency exits.
People familiar with the development said the Indians were flown back to Delhi as part of India's mission to evacuate its citizens and Afghan partners from Kabul following its takeover by the Taliban over a week back.
Top external affairs ministry officials on Monday briefed a parliamentary panel about efforts to bring back Indians stranded in war-hit Ukraine, including plans for 13 evacuation flights in the next two-three days to its neighbouring countries and subsequent increase in the number of daily flights to nine, sources said.
Aircraft pilot-in-command Captain Achint Bhardwaj spoke exclusively to ANI after landing at Delhi Airport and said that all air traffic controls, including that of Pakistan, extended support during the evacuation mission.
Eight persons have been killed in floods and landslides in Assam as incessant rainfall caused massive inundation in 17 districts, affecting over 78,000 people, officials said on Saturday.
"Op Devi Shakti in action! @IAF_MC flight with 24 Indian and 11 Nepalese evacuees from Kabul is on its way to Delhi. #DeviShakti," external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweeted in the morning.
People in some border villages of Ferozepur district in Punjab began moving to safer areas amid soaring tensions between India and Pakistan.
A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Krishna Murari took note Attorney General K K Venugopal's submissions that the Centre, besides bringing back stranded students, is also looking into the representation on their studies being hit by the ongoing war.
At the same time, it is learnt that Indian officials in Ukraine are facing growing complexities to evacuate the Indians to the neighbouring countries with Russian forces closing in on Ukrainian capital Kyiv and targeting several other key cities by land and air.
The aircraft was to carry a large consignment of medical supplies to China and bring back more Indians from Wuhan.
The pilots and cabin crew were provided training in all the steps on donning and doffing of Personal Protective Equipment suits, infection control practices to be followed inflight and also the management of anticipated health emergencies during the flight, the medical college authorities said.
ccording to the MEA plan shared with the ministry of civil aviation that is set to begin from May 7, approximately 14,800 passengers will be evacuated from 13 different countries. F
On Monday, the fifth Air India flight landed in Delhi from Bucharest with 249 Indian nationals while the sixth flight arrived from Budapest here with 240 Indian nationals, the officials said.
As severe cyclonic storm 'Remal' initiated its landfall process between the coasts of Bangladesh and adjoining West Bengal on Sunday evening, authorities took swift action, evacuating over 1 lakh people from vulnerable areas of the state to safety.
Two Indian aircraft would be permitted to operate from the Kabul airport which is under the control of American security forces, government sources told ANI.
Under its evacuation mission 'Operation Kaveri ', India has set up a transit facility at Jeddah and all the Indians have been taken to the Saudi Arabian city after their evacuation from Sudan.
The flight arrived at Wuhan's Tianhe International Airport on Friday evening. While the official number of students to be airlifted in the two flights is not known, Indians who reached the Wuhan airport on Friday said they were told that 374 were expected to be airlifted by the Air India flight. India has taken an undertaking from the Indians travelling in the two flights that they would be quarantined for 14 days after their arrival, besides undergoing special checks at the Wuhan airport.
Wing Commander Raveendran and flight steward Sargeant Iyer, though shaken and injured, managed to open the rear door of the aircraft and shouted for Prime Minister Morarji Desai and the passengers in the forward cabin to exit in haste since they suspected that fire would engulf the aircraft.
The central government has told the high court that under 'Operation Ganga', in addition to commercial aircrafts, Indian Air Force flights have also been pressed into operation to evacuate the Indians who have crossed into Romania, Poland, Hungary and other neighbouring countries of Ukraine.
The government is organising evacuation flights for Indians in Ukraine, the sources said, adding that the cost will be completely borne by the government.
President Droupadi Murmu has approved gallantry awards to 93 armed forces personnel, including two Kirti Chakras and 14 Shaurya Chakras, on the eve of Republic Day. The Kirti Chakras, India's second-highest peacetime gallantry award, have been awarded to Major Manjit from 22 Rashtriya Rifles and posthumously to Naik Dilwar Khan, 28 Rashtriya Rifles. The president also approved 305 defense decorations to Armed Forces and other personnel.
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