K Mohandas, secretary of the Libyan Nurses' Parents' Association, said he was waiting for his daughter's return by Friday or Saturday. "My daughter works at the Tripoli Medical Centre. Although the parents' association is 150-member strong, not all the nurses wish to return. Some have chosen to stay back at their own risk to collect work-related benefits due to them," said Mohandas.
He added, "She has been there for around 14 months. Her husband returned from Libya when the oil company he worked for shut down. I got word that they will be rescued by the weekend. We've requested Kottayam MP Jose K Mani to ask external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to consider landing the special flight closer home at Cochin International Airport instead of New Delhi from where it will take off."
The Norka office said four Malayalis registered their names and passport numbers at the helpline saying they preferred to remain in the country as returning would mean defaulting on loans. "One said he preferred to die in Libya than return to Kerala, where there was uncertainty about employment," the official said.
A Kerala government official in contact with the ministry of external affairs said the Centre would be sending two special rescue flights to Tunisia on Friday and Saturday.
"Political leaders in Kerala have requested that the road journey from Tripoli to Tunisia be eliminated and people be evacuated by air from a feeder airport. But the MEA is yet to confirm this. The main international airport is shut since fighting began on July 13, and the Centre has requested temporary visas so those being rescued can cross the border into Tunisia," the official said.
Over the last three days, at least 122 callers have contacted the toll-free phone line at the Non-Resident Keralite Affairs (Norka) office to inform authorities of their presence in the war zone.
"The first list of people stranded in Tripoli has been sent to MEA," said one Norka official. "It's planning to evacuate people from Tripoli and transfer them to Tunisia by road. But they would require travel documents like visa-on-entry from the Tunisian government, which the ministry is arranging. The immediate focus is to evacuate people from Tripoli. The second list sent to MEA on Tuesday has information on people in Benghazi," the official added.
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