Faced with the anxious families of Indians stranded in Iraq, the External Affairs Ministry swung into action, with Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is also the Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, taking stock of the efforts of the Indian Embassy in Baghdad.
Officials say they are monitoring the situation on an “hourly basis”, and have set up a control room in the Ministry to assist along with a helpline centre already set up in Baghdad.
No update was available on evacuation plans for the 46 nurses in Tikrit and 40 construction workers in Mosul, cities now under the control of the Sunni-affiliated terror group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. As appeals came in from their families in India as well as nurses’ associations, officials confirmed that the International Red Cross had been asked to make direct contact with them.
ADVERTISEMENT
Some of the nurses who were able to take phone calls reportedly said they were all safe, but frightened by constant firing in their vicinity.