<p>Amid anxieties of families of Keralite nurses and students stranded in violence-hit cities in Iraq, Kerala Government today said it has been doing all that it could for their safe return.<br /><br /></p>.<p>As the issue figured in the state Assembly, Minister for Non-Resident Keralalites Affairs K C Joseph said Government had information that 44 nurses stranded in trouble-torn Tikrit in Iraq were safe.<br /><br />According to the Indian Embassy in Iraq they could be evacuated only when the road from their hospital to the nearest airport became risk-free as heavy bombing was going on in the area.<br /><br />The nurses were safe according to a group of officials of International Red Crescent who met them last night,he said.<br /><br />Stating that the situation in Iraq was serious, he said many places were under the control of ISIL militants.<br /><br />A 24x7 Helpline has been set up under the state NRK agency Norka to provide updated information on the situation.<br /><br />Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had already written to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj seeking urgent steps for the safe evacuation of the Keralites from the violence-hit areas of Iraq.<br /><br />Out of these stranded nurses, 36 of them were keen to return home immediately, he said.<br /><br />The state Government had received representations from the parents of students seeking immediate intervention to bring their wards from Iraq.<br /><br />Meanwhile, father of one of the nurses working in Tikrit said his daugther Merina Jose called him this morning and said she was safe but anxious about the future.<br /><br />"My daughter called me this morning. She said she and others working in the same hospital are safe but are anxious about what will happen to them," P A Jose from Kottayam told PTI.<br /><br />Jose said he and parents of others were praying for the safe return of their children and expected that the Centre would intervene for their evacuation without delay.</p>
<p>Amid anxieties of families of Keralite nurses and students stranded in violence-hit cities in Iraq, Kerala Government today said it has been doing all that it could for their safe return.<br /><br /></p>.<p>As the issue figured in the state Assembly, Minister for Non-Resident Keralalites Affairs K C Joseph said Government had information that 44 nurses stranded in trouble-torn Tikrit in Iraq were safe.<br /><br />According to the Indian Embassy in Iraq they could be evacuated only when the road from their hospital to the nearest airport became risk-free as heavy bombing was going on in the area.<br /><br />The nurses were safe according to a group of officials of International Red Crescent who met them last night,he said.<br /><br />Stating that the situation in Iraq was serious, he said many places were under the control of ISIL militants.<br /><br />A 24x7 Helpline has been set up under the state NRK agency Norka to provide updated information on the situation.<br /><br />Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had already written to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj seeking urgent steps for the safe evacuation of the Keralites from the violence-hit areas of Iraq.<br /><br />Out of these stranded nurses, 36 of them were keen to return home immediately, he said.<br /><br />The state Government had received representations from the parents of students seeking immediate intervention to bring their wards from Iraq.<br /><br />Meanwhile, father of one of the nurses working in Tikrit said his daugther Merina Jose called him this morning and said she was safe but anxious about the future.<br /><br />"My daughter called me this morning. She said she and others working in the same hospital are safe but are anxious about what will happen to them," P A Jose from Kottayam told PTI.<br /><br />Jose said he and parents of others were praying for the safe return of their children and expected that the Centre would intervene for their evacuation without delay.</p>