Indian nurses stranded in northern Iraq describe ordeal

NEW DELHI: Indian nurses stranded in northern Iraq have been living like prisoners at a state-run hospital in Tikrit after being abandoned by their employers as well as the military, reports said Tuesday.

As many as 46 nurses from the southern Indian state of Kerala are in Iraq waiting for the turmoil to subside, NDTV and other media reported.

"We are afraid because we have no security here," Marina Jose, one of the nurses, told NDTV by phone from the northwestern city, which was seized by Sunni insurgents recently.

"All the military, police, everybody escaped from here. Only we are here. We are literally prisoners within the hospital premises. There are no Iraqi employees here," she said.

Since the insurgents launched their lightning assault on June 9, they have captured Mosul, a city of two million people, and a big chunk of mainly Sunni Arab territory stretching south towards the capital.

The offensive has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and sent jitters through world oil markets as the militants have advanced ever nearer Baghdad leaving the Shiite-led government in disarray.

Jose said the Red Cross had made contact with the group. "If it is safe they (Red Cross) can take us from here. Otherwise we have to stay here," she said.

The Indian foreign ministry said the situation in Iraq was receiving "high priority" but ruled out any immediate emergency evacuation of its nationals.

"Crisis management meeting underway on situation in Iraq and possibilities of assistance to Indian nationals," foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin posted on Twitter on Tuesday, adding that a "24 hour control room to provide information on Iraq."