382 Keralites return, but nurses refuse to leave Yemen

Thiruvananthapuram: With the arrival of 382 more Keralites from Yemen at Kochi on Friday, the total number of those brought back home has crossed 2,300, State Minister for Diaspora K.C. Joseph said, adding more people from Kerala are still stranded in the strife-torn country.

Joseph told reporters that he spoke to a Kerala nurse on Thursday at a hospital in Yemen and she said nurses were not interested to return home to India.

"She (nurse) told me that there were 64 nurses from Kerala in her hospital. Despite several pleas, she told me that I should not pressurise the nurses to return home," said Joseph.

"We regularly interacted with Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh who was overseeing the rescue operations at Djibouti. He informed us that Indians were asked to return from Yemen since January," Joseph said.

"I told all these things to our nurses who are staying back. V.K. Singh has returned and the Indian embassy has also been closed in that country," he said.