NEW DELHI: The nurses who returned to India on Saturday were among the around 183 persons stranded in Iraq who were flown back home by the government.
Many among the nurses described their rescue and return to Indian as a “rebirth”, while vowing never to return to Iraq. Among those present to receive the nurses at Kochi airport was Kerala Chief
Minister Oommen Chandy, who said their evacuation from Iraq was a “collective effort”.
However, while the anxiety of the families of the 46 nurses gave way to relief, there was no such succour for the relatives of 39 Indians who continue to remain captives of the Sunni radical outfit in Mosul.
A majority of those who returned from Iraq, including the nurses, vowed never to return to the country in view of their harrowing ordeal there ever since the Sunni militants overran large swathes of territory in recent weeks.
The nurses and the other Indians stranded were flown back in a special Air India flight that took off from Erbil. The aircraft, carrying approximately 183 passengers, first dropped off Indian nationals in Mumbai after which it headed for Hyderabad to drop off another 76 Indian nationals.
It then left for Kochi to take the 46 nurses home. Eventually, it flew to Delhi, where another 54 Indian nationals reached on Saturday evening and heaved a huge sigh of relief on their safe return.
They were largely based in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk and complained about being abandoned by their employers once trouble broke out.
The return marks just the beginning of an operation launched by the Indian government to evacuate Indians from the trouble-torn country.
According to Syed Akbaruddin, official spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs, approximately 400 Indian nationals will be returning to various destinations in India, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad, through commercial flights in the next two days.
He said about 1,200 Indians would have been brought back by Monday.
