First batch of Indian nurses evacuated from Libya reach Kochi

A group of Indian nurses, who were evacuated from Libya by the government, arrived in Kochi in the early hours of Friday morning.

According to reports, the 12 nurses, who were evacuated from the strife-torn nation, reached the Kochi International Airport at 3.00 am after being brought via Tunisia. The remaining 22 nurses, along with 20 nationals working the North African nation, are scheduled to land here on Sunday.

The government has already evacuated nearly 3,000 nationals from Libya after the second wave of violence which started early this year.

In August, over 50 Indian nurses from Kerala had returned from Libya.

Fighting between rival militias in Tripoli over the past three weeks and bloody clashes between extremists and the army in the Libyan city of Benghazi has prompted several countries to evacuate their nationals and diplomatic staff.

Militias controlling large parts of the country are behind Libya's worst violence since the 2011 uprising that toppled that nation's former de facto ruler Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

In 2011, the Indian Government had carried out a 'mammoth operation', involving planes and ships to evacuate thousands of nationals from the conflict -hit nation.