29 nurses return from war-torn Iraq

Nearly two months after being trapped in Iraq, a batch of 29 nurses evacuated from the strife-torn nation reached their homeland on Saturday.

Arriving here by a Jet Airways flight from Sharjah at 5.40 a.m., the nurses, all of them working in hospitals in Diyala province, were received by their friends and kin.

Recounting the ordeal, Viji Vijayan, a native of Amboori in Thiruvananthapuram who worked at the Al-Muqtadia hospital, said they came to know about the developments outside only through TV.

Phone lines cut “Rebels had cut-off phone lines and the internet. We were trapped inside the hospital building as the army was not allowing anyone to move out,” she said.

“As the clash broke out, I could see buildings in our neighbourhood burning down. It appeared as if the people were prepared for a war as they carried assault weapons and we were told not to venture out without any direction from the hospital authority,” she said.

Having stayed inside the hospital for over a month, they were evacuated to a hotel in Baghdad with the help of the army and were shifted to Sharjah a couple of days later.

It was with the help of the Indian Association and the Malayali Samajam in Sharjah that they arranged their onward journey tickets.

Neethu Venugopal, a native of Haripad in Alappuzha who worked at Baqubah, said the Iraqi army position in front of their hospital delayed their escape.

However, things changed after Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and P.C. Venugopal, MP, intervened to secure their safe return.

“Their involvement ensured us the moral support of Indian embassy officials,” she said, adding that they were stranded at the Sharjah airport for over a day.

Salary dues Though she joined the hospital in February, she only received salary for the first two months. Ms.Venugopal hoped the State government would help her get the salary arrears.

Norka, which had opened a helpdesk at the airport, arranged transportation facility for them and provided a preliminary financial assistance of Rs.2,000 each.

Earlier PTI story: >29 Kerala nurses return from Iraq