Indian workers and nurses return from Libya

Another batch of Indian workers and nurses stranded in Libya returned to Delhi safely early this morning.

An Indian worker, Anup Kumar, from Gorakhpur, who was stuck in Libya, expressed his grief over the worsening situation in that country.

"The situation is not stable in Libya. We somehow managed to leave the place but many are still stuck there. We faced lot of problems related to lack of food and water facilities. At least 200 Indians are still stuck there. We wanted to leave the place but the company was not ready to leave us, they were not giving our passports, threatening us and putting us in jail. We somehow managed to get our tickets booked. The company deducted our entire salary. We asked for money from home and then got our tickets booked," said Kumar.

Another Indian worker, Ajay Kumar Singh, from Bihar, said that they were blindfolded and threatened that their passports will be tampered with. He added that they were also accused of theft.

Gangaram from Hyderabad appreciated the efforts of the Indian embassy and the government for facilitating their safe return.

"They helped us in getting our passport and flight tickets, we will never go back to the place, the situation is very bad there," he said.

Meanwhile at the airport, the Gurdwara Management Committee had arranged for refreshment and medical aid for the Indians returning from the conflict zone.

Puneet Singh Chandok, Chief Coordinator of the Gurudwara Management Committee, said they were in constant touch with the Ministry of External Affairs, and as soon as they are getting information about the return of the Indians, they were providing medical aid, refreshments and accommodation and also providing transportation cost so that they can go to their respective home town.

"The Government of India is doing a tremendous effort in bringing back all the Indians. Right now 11 boys from Punjab have arrived. In another flight sent by the government around 116 Indians will be arriving. Around 80 to 90 Indians are from Hyderabad and the rest from Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. Till tomorrow afternoon 300 Indians are expected to arrive," said Chandok.

Earlier, on Tuesday, over 50 Indian nurses belonging to Kerala, had returned from Libya. They were received at Kochi Airport.

Fighting between rival militias in Tripoli over the past three weeks, and bloody clashes between Islamists and the army in the eastern city of Benghazi in Libya, have 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 Col. Muammar Gaddafi.

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