58 nurses at Libya's Ras-al jadir border to hopefully reach Tunis by late night: MEA

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said here on Friday that 58 Indian nurses are at the Ras-al-jadir border, waiting for the prayer time in Libya to end.

"Its prayer time in Libya, they are waiting for it to end, once that is over they will cross over after completion of formalities, our ambassador in Libya himself is present at that border point. We hope that the nurses will cross over and will travel to Tunis and by late night we hope all the nurses will be in Tunis," said Akbaruddin.

"We have made arrangements for them to fly back to their home state, most of them are from Kerala and tickets have been booked for them for Kochi. There are few from Delhi and Hyderabad also. All these 58 nurses will be going to their home destinations. We will be having smaller numbers travelling tomorrow, the day after and the day after that," he added.

He also said that arrangements have been made for those in Benghazi and the surrounding region in eastern Libya to travel out.

Akbaruddin said, "The government of India has made arrangements for expeditious return of those willing to come back and we have reiterated our view today that all Indians in Libya should return home because the circumstances there have deteriorated."

On Wednesday, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had said, "a large number of workers and nurses who are stuck in Libya want to come back to India. While the nurses are safe right now, with food and water provisions, gas and electricity continue to remain in short supply."

He also said that 118 names of the nurses have been listed and handed over to the MEA and the India n embassy.

In Tripoli medical centre itself, more than 350 Malayalee nurses are working and a large number of nurses are also working in Benghazi, according to Chandy.