Government sends more officials to Libya

NEW DELHI: With more and more Indians, including many nurses, in Libya wanting to return home, the government on Wednesday dispatched more officials to its mission in Tripoli to ensure their safe exit. Out of the 750 nurses stranded in Libya, 50 are expected to be driven to neighbouring Tunisia on Thursday.

Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj chaired a high-level meeting on Wednesday to review the security situation in the country. A joint secretary level officer is also being sent to Tripoli to coordinate efforts to prevent any harm to Indian nationals.

"EAM (Swaraj) has deployed six officials to Libya to set in motion the process of bringing Indian nationals back," MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told the media here. India's ambassador in Tunisia, Nagma Mallick, who was on leave, has been asked to join back to help Indian nationals wanting to cross over into Tunisia through the land route. With the international airport in Tripoli under siege, Libya-Tunisia and Libya-Egypt border routes are right now the safest way to leave Libya.

Akbaruddin said the first lot of Indians will return to India by this weekend. There are close to 6,000 Indian nationals in Libya, out of which 750 are nurses from Kerala. About 80 nurses have contacted Indian officials to say they want to return home. Swaraj also asked for transfer of funds from the Indian Community Welfare Fund (ICWF) in UAE to assist Indians in Libya.

Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy said the state had already provided the Centre with a list of 118 Keralites to be brought home by a special flight after taking them by road to Tunisia. Asked about the number of nurses in Libya, apart from the 118 included in the first list, he said another 381 nurses were working at the Medical Centre in Tripoli and 60 in another town.