The 24-Year-Old Pilot Who Evacuated Over 800 Indian Students From Ukraine

Mahasweta Chakraborty, a pilot from Kolkata has played a crucial role in bringing back Indian students stranded in war-hit Ukraine. She flew six flights to evacuate more than 800 students.

Ms Chakraborty, who has been working with a private Indian carrier for four years, flew these flights between February 27, three days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the “special military operation” in Ukraine, and March 7. 

“It was the experience of a lifetime, rescuing those students in their late teens and early twenties, many of whom had fallen sick and had traumatizing tales of survival,” Ms Chakraborty told The Times Of India.

Ms Chakraborty added that she had to fly an Airbus A320 for 13-14 hours a day but it didn't matter as the students “re-lived their horror” and showed desperation to go home. 

She also recalled an incident when a 21-year-old girl started having fits due to stress.  “The moment, I will never forget, when she clutched my hand in a semi-conscious state and asked me to simply take me to her mother," Ms Chakraborty was quoted as saying.

Ms Chakraborty was part of “Operation Ganga” launched by the government on February 26 to bring Indians home. Indian Army also extended its support, besides carriers like Air India, IndiGo and Spicejet.

“I got a call late at night from my airline and was told that I was chosen for the rescue operation. I packed in two hours and left,” she added.

Ms Chakraborty, a graduate from Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, had also been part of the Vande Bharat mission during the pandemic. She flew oxygen concentrators from abroad and vaccines to Kolkata and other airports from Pune.