Indian nurses freed, to reach Kochi tomorrow morning: Oommen Chandy - Economic Times

NEW DELHI: All 46 nurses who were held up in ISIS controlled areas in Iraq have been freed and will reach Kochi tomorrow morning by a special Air India flight from Erbil in northern Iraq, a relieved Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said today.

"Government of India, Indian Embassy in Baghdad and the state government all have worked together and finally we are achieving the great aim to bring back to the nurses to India," Chandy told reporters after his second meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

He said that the nurses have started their journey at 12.30 pm today from the place in ISIS-controlled area where they were kept and "according to our latest report they have reached the border near the international airport (at Erbil)".

Chandy said the Central government has agreed to send a special aircraft to bring them to Kochi.

"We are very thankful to Government of India and Indian embassy for their active involvement in the mission," said the Chief Minister who was camping in Delhi for the last two days holding consultations with the Central government.

He said nurses will reach Kochi tomorrow morning.

"They will stay there (Erbil) and tomorrow early morning the Indian officers will bring them to the airport and from there they will be flown to Kochi in a special aircraft," Chandy said.

Asked to whom he gives credit for this achievement, the Chief Minsiter said, "We approached the External Affairs Minister (Sushma Swaraj), Indian embassy in Baghdad. We got support from all the quarters".

"The External Affairs Minister, the Indian ambassador in Baghdad...all helped us. So we are thankful to everybody," he said.

Terming the nurses' issue as "a humanitarian problem", Chandy said they were working in Iraq for their livelihood and they were living in a "very very difficult situation after civil war broke out there".

"We are all happy because we could solve a humanitarian issue," the Chief Minister said.

He said Indian embassy officials have made arrangements in Erbil for their comfortable stay and representatives of Government of India and Kerala state government will go in the special aircraft to facilitate their return to Kochi.

"Our priority is to bring them back safely to their homes," he said.

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