Batch of 50 Kerala nurses, stuck in Libya, to be taken by road to Tunisia

Meanwhile, relatives of some of the nurses here have received some comforting news from Libya. The first batch of 50 nurses is expected to be taken to Tunisia by road either on Friday or Saturday and the arrangements for their evacuation from there would be made subsequently.

Sources said the Union Minister had called up the Chief Minister over phone on Monday after the State Government had written to the Centre seeking urgent measures to evacuate Malayalis from Libya.

The Chief Minister suggested three options to the Centre for evacuating the Malayalis; bringing them to Mitiga international airport, the only airport operational in Libya at the moment, taking them to the nearest sea port for evacuating them by sea route or bringing them to Tunisia border by road. But owing to heavy fighting between rival militia, the road journey is quite risky.

Since there are numerous armed militia affiliated to regions, cities and tribes all over the war-torn country, even venturing out of hospitals or workplaces has become quite unsafe. The Union Minister has given directions to the Indian Embassy in Libya to explore the safest option for evacuating Malayalis. Besides, they have been asked to issue separate visas.

Chandy has also requested the Centre to arrange a special flight for evacuating the Malaylis. So far, 118 Malayalis have registered with Norka help desk for evacuation and the list has been submitted to the MEA. Another list would be sent in a couple of days. The State Government has already taken up the matter with the Ministry of External Affairs and further details regarding stranded Malayalis would be furnished on Friday.