44 Kerala nurses from Libya to reach Kochi Tuesday

The first batch of 44 Kerala nurses, evacuated from Libya, will arrive at Kochi on a Middle East airline Tuesday morning, said a state government official.

Speaking to IANS, P.Sudeep, chief executive officer of Roots-Norka (the state agency that looks after the welfare of non-resident Keralites), said this information was passed on to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

"We have been told at 6.30 p.m. IST, Monday, these nurses will leave from the Tunisian border and will arrive in Dubai. From there they will take the flight to Kochi and of the 47, 44 will deplane in Kochi while three others would disembark at Delhi," said Sudeep.

Another 43 Kerala nurses are now at the Tunisian border and their date of return has not been finalised, while 10 are booked to fly out from there Tuesday evening.

"The chief minister has been told by Swaraj that she will make arrangements to send two special flights to bring about 600 nurses from Kerala who will return in the days to come. One flight will be from Malta and another from the Tunisian border," said Sudeep.

The Kerala nurses working in Benghazi would be moved to Malta in a ship as travelling by road is not safe according to the Indian embassy officials, he added.

"The exact dates of the two special flights would be announced later, when things fall in place," said Sudeep, who will be receiving the nurses who arrive at the Cochin airport Tuesday.