Over 50 Indian nurses return from Libya

Over 50 more nurses have been brought back to Kochi airport on Tuesday morning after being evacuated from Libya.

The husband of a nurse coming back from Libya told ANI, "My wife is coming today. She went to Dubai from Tunisia and is now coming here. Arrival time is of 8.50 am so I am waiting for her. I am very happy because I had not thought that she will come so early. But the government has pushed the matter a lot and that helped us. The CM, NoRKA CEO P Sudeep and Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj have also helped a lot in this."

"43 have already reached Tunisia last night. The government is forcing to get them back at the earliest. Everyone is praying for it," he added.

The Chief Execuitve Officer (CEO) of NoRKA (Non-Resident Keralite Affairs), P Sudeep told ANI, "Today 44 people are coming from Dubai, about 58 people from Tripoli. They were evacuated to Tunisia; from there they came to Dubai yesterday night. Now 44 people will be arriving to Kochi airport, 3 will be getting down at Delhi. Tomorrow, 10 more people will come and one more person who is from Andhra, is not coming here (Kochi)."

"Now, the government of India has arranged a special flight, based on the request from Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Sushma Swaraj, one from Tunisia and another from Malta. So people who have been evacuated subsequently will be lifted in a special flight. The date is not fixed. This is the plan," he added.

Talking about people who are yet to be evacuated, he said, "Another thing is that there are a good number of people who have expressed their desire to come back. Those people will be evacuated and will be taken to Malta by ship, because there is a problem in traveling through road from Tunisia from Benghazi. From there they will be air lifted by the special flight arranged by the government of India."

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.