Mahasweta Chakraborty received a late night call last month that gave her an experience of a lifetime. The 24-year-old IndiGo pilot swiftly packed her bags and reported for duty; she had been chosen by the airline to rescue stranded Indians from war-torn Ukraine border points under the government’s ‘Operation Ganga’.

The Kolkata native flew six evacuation flights — four from Poland and two from Hungary — between February 27 and March 7, Times of India reported.

Chakraborty has been with IndiGo for the last four years and she was nothing short of proud to have been part of the operation. She flew 800 Indian students back to safety from Ukraine, a country that has been marred by violence, death and destruction since Russia invaded the country two weeks ago.

“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,” Chakraborty told Times of India. “I salute their fighting spirit and am extremely proud of having played my part in their journey back home.”

Apart from Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet also joined in the efforts under ‘Operation Ganga’ evacuating Indian nationals from the former Soviet republic. India operated over 75 flights to get back stranded citizens.

A resident of Kolkata’s New Town, Chakraborty flew for 13-14 hours and recalls how the students didn’t even want to drink or eat the food that was offered to them. “All they wanted to do was go home,” Chakraborty told Times.

Chakraborty was also a part of the Vande Bharat mission during the initial stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

She had flown in oxygen contractor machines and delivered vaccines to Kolkata and other cities from Pune.

“I am always thankful for the contribution I could make to society. But the real heroes are these young students who fought hunger, thirst, death threats, extreme weather and career uncertainty in their bid to escape the war-torn country. I doubt if I could have made it this far had I been in their situation,” she concluded in her interview to Times of India.