58 Indian nurses returning home from Libya

Days after India rescued 49 nurses from Iraq, 58 Indian nurses from violence-hit Libya are on their way back to India, the government said Friday.

The 58 nurses, mostly from Kerala, reached the border post of Ras Jedir on way to Tunisia, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said here.

"We hope that by late night, all the nurses will be in Tunis. We have made arrangements for them to fly back to their home state," he said.

He said that a smaller number of people will be travelling out of Libya on Saturday and also the day after.

He said the situation in Libya has deteriorated further since India issued an appeal to all its citizens to leave the country where government forces are locked in battle with the Islamist militias.

"We are reiterating our view that all those who are in Libya should return home because the circumstances there have deteriorated even since we last sent out an advisory," he said.

Earlier in the day, speaking to IANS, P. Sudeep, chief executive officer of Norka (the state agency that looks after the welfare of non-resident Keralites) said Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy spoke to the nurses around 11.30 a.m. (IST) before they started their bus journey to the Tunisian border.

He added that this is the first batch of the total 252 Kerala nurses working in Libya who have registered to return home.