Their predicament came to public attention with the killing of a toddler and his mother hailing from Kottayam in a missile attack in the last week of March.
The group fleeing the civil war survived a risky passage from near their hospital to the Tripoli airport, poor accommodation, lack of water and electricity, outbreak of diseases in the place where they were harboured by a Libyan national, who they described as kind and who accommodated them in three small houses by a beachside.
The place they were given refuge was about 70 km from the Tripoli airport and appeals to the Indian embassy in the capital city bore little results, claimed the returnees, who even alleged that sometimes the embassy officials failed to pick up the phones. However, one of the returnees said that the situation was dangerous even for the embassy staff. “They have escaped from the jaws of death,” said A. J. Joy, father of Nivya, a nurse who arrived here with her husband, Jobby, and their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Joana. The family from Alappuzha vowed they would not return to the strife-torn country.
Maikkuttan Shanmugham, who arrived here with his wife, Raji, and daughter Mithra, said the situation in Libya was so bad that they would never think of going back despite their salaries for about six months being held up in banks. The Libya returnees were received at the airport by officials of the Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs. They were provided with light refreshments as well as Rs.2,000 each for onward travel. The officials also offered cars to those who had not arranged onward travel on their own.
Those who returned to Kochi on Thursday are: Abraham Samuel, Manju Mary Jacob, and their son Jaisel Sam Abraham from Kozhencherry in Pathanamthitta district; Thomas Ouseph and Letty Thomas from Kaulathoor, Pathanamthitta; Joby Jose, Ancy Jacob, and their son Jismin Anna Joby from Kuruppanthara, Kottayam; Joby Kurian, Nivya Joy, and their daughter Joanna Teresa Joby from Thathampally, Alappuzha; Manikkuttan Shanmugham, Raji Rajan, and their daughter Mithra from Alappuzha; and Joseph Chacko, Simi Padmanabhan, Niyamol Simi Jose, and son Niyon Simi Jose from Perumpaikkad, Kottayam.
