KYIV: With the rescue of a group of 694 students, including Malayalees, from Sumy, Ukraine, Operation Ganga has come to a successful end. The students, who arrived at the Poland border on a special train from Lviv, returned to India from the Romanian capital Bucharest on Friday morning. The group also includes citizens of Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Tunisia. They were escorted by Indian Embassy and Red Cross vehicles in 12 buses to Poltava for about 10 hours. From there they were taken to Lviv. The students had to stay in Sumy for about two weeks during the Russian invasion.

Central government launched Operation Ganga 12 days ago to rescue Indian students stranded in Ukraine. 17,000 people were rescued by the mission.

The mission has officially came to an end with the landing of flight from Bucharest. However, the Indian Embassy will continue to examine whether Indians are stranded in isolated places in Ukraine and would rescue anyone who is still trapped.

Those who crosssed Ukranian borders were rescued via Romania, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova into India.

8000 people were rescued through Romania.

Meanwhile, the media reported that the body of an Indian citizen who died of an illness in Ukraine will be repatriated soon.