17 more nurses stranded in Iraq return home

Seventeen more nurses, who were stranded in Iraq, have arrived in Kochi.

The first flight of Jet Airways carried seven nurses and the second Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi carried 10 nurses.

Most of them had to leave their respective jobs due to the tense situation prevailing in Iraq.

About 10,000 Indians work in Iraq, mostly in areas unaffected by the fighting, but scores of them have returned to India since Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) began its offensive.

A nurse, Nithu, said that they were made to stay in an isolated hotel where nobody spoke to them.

"The embassy people made us stay in a hotel. We still do not know why we were asked to stay back for so long. Our exit dates marked in the passport was July 16. It was an isolated hotel. Nobody came and spoke to us when reached there. Nobody called Indian officials when we wanted them to," she said in Kochi city.

Meanwhile, another nurse, Jimmy, said that the Indian Embassy helped facilitate the safe return of the nurses.

"We did not have many problems. We cancelled our one year contract. They agreed and they let us go," she said.

Earlier, many Indian nurses, who were either abducted by suspected Islamist militants or were caught up in the fighting in Iraq, had arrived home in Kochi city. A group of 78 workers belonging to southern province of Andhra Pradesh also reached India days back.

The ISIL and other Sunni Muslim militant groups have seized towns and cities across Syria and Iraq in a lightning advance.