Kerala gets SOS from Malayali nurses in Libya
Efforts are being made to arrange their return along with the bodies of the two.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the killing of a Malayali nurse and her child in a shell attack in Libya last Friday, pressure in mounting on the state government from Malayalis in Libya to make arrangements for their safe return home.
A group of 20 Malayalis, most of them nurses, from areas in Sabratha city where the shelling took place, contacted NORKA department and sought safe passage back. Efforts are being made to arrange their return along with the bodies of the two.
“About 20 nurses from Libya approached us seeking help to return. Chief Minister Mr. Oommen Chandy has brought the matter to the notice of the External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and we hope the centre is taking necessary action,” NORKA Minister K C Joseph said.
Meanwhile, government sources said that the option of bringing the nurses along with the bodies of the mother and child was being looked into by the centre. “About 30 Indians, a majority of them Malayalis, are learnt to be working in the same hospital where the deceased nurse, Sanu, was working. Most of them now want to return. But even flight operations from nearby areas are quite risky in the present condition. Hence the option of evacuating Indians along with the bodies of the two was being explored,” said sources.
NORKA officials also pointed out that the Centre may not give due consideration to the state’s pleas to evacuate Malayalis still held up in the troubled area as many preferred to stay back owing to fiscal problems during the evacuation drives carried out earlier. There were also reports of many returning to the troubled areas through illegal channels.