Ship carrying Indians sets sail to Malta; body of Malayali to be brought back in 3 days
More Keralites are due to return home from Libya where civil war is intensifying.
P. Sudeep, CEO, NoRKA Roots, said on Saturday that a good number of Keralites were stranded in the city of Benghazi and the authorities had begun evacuating them to the island country of Malta. “The Union government informed us that a ship carrying Indians set sail to Malta from the port city on Saturday. We do not know the exact number of Keralites among them and have contacted the Indian envoys there for a detailed list,” he said.
Those arriving at Malta would be airlifted to Delhi by a special flight and subsequently to their respective destinations, the official added.
Sources said that the mortal remains of Solomon Daniel, a native of Alappuzha, who was killed in Libya last week, would be brought back in three days.
CM holds discussions
“Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has already held discussion with the Indian Ambassador in Libya on the issue. The official promised him to send the body at the earliest,” they said.
Body released
While Solomon’s body had already been released to the Indian authorities there, they were unable to transport it to outside Libya due to the internal situation.
“The situation has reached such a point that the officials are unable to arrange even an ambulance and petrol to take the body to Tunisia by road,” they explained.
On Saturday morning, another batch of 225 Indians reached New Delhi by a special flight from Tunisia.
Of this, 107 are from Kerala, and they have been accommodated in rooms arranged by NoRKA. They will be flown into Kerala within the next couple of days.
59 return
Similarly, 59 among the 115 persons who had reached New Delhi from Libya the other day reached Kochi on Saturday.
On Friday, another batch of 42 nurses had reached Kerala from Libya via New Delhi.
