Fifty nurses to leave Libya Thursday, says CM

Embassy wants them evacuated soon, says CM

Black smoke billows over the skyline as a fire at the oil depot for the airport rages out of control after being struck in the crossfire of warring militias battling for control of the airfield, in Tripoli, Libya Monday, July 28, 2014. The latest violence to plague the country has so far killed scores of people and wounded hundreds as foreigners flee the chaos. Libya's interim government said in a statement that the fire could trigger a "humanitarian and environmental disaster" in Tripoli, appealing for "international help" to extinguish the inferno. (AP Photo/Mohammed Ben Khalifa)

Fifty Keralite nurses stranded in Libya will commence their journey back home on Thursday, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said. This is the first batch of nurses to return from the strife-torn country.

At a press conference after a Cabinet meeting here on Wednesday, the Chief Minister said only 118 Keralite nurses in Tripoli and Benghazi had expressed willingness to return from Libya.

A total of 365 nurses were based in Tripoli Medical Centre (TMC), while 60 medical staff members, comprising technicians, paramedics and nurses, were in Tripoli’s Al Khadra Hospital.

. The government was putting pressure on the Centre to arrange a special flight to bring them back to Delhi, the Chief Minister said.