Promised wages by Iraq rebels, Indian nurses to stay in Tikrit

CHENNAI/KOTTAYAM: Hours after sending an SOS to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure their safe return to India, 46 nurses from Kerala trapped in a hospital in the northern Iraq city of Tikrit on Wednesday evening said they had agreed to continue to work there after fighters from militant group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), assured them they would be paid their salaries and dues. A nurse said the militants were courteous after they took control of Tikrit Teaching Hospital on Wednesday. The nurses have been on razor's edge since June 10 when ISIS fighters took control of Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussain, and massacred 1,700 Iraqi air force recruits there. "For the moment we're safe in the hospital," another nurse, Jency James, said. "We hear gunfire but don't know what's going on." She said the rebels had asked the nurses not to venture out of the hospital. "Though we have basic necessities, we're concerned about our safety," she said. "The bombing has cut off our internet connections and we don't know how long our phones will work." Jency said 15 of the 46 nurses had not been paid for four months and were finding it difficult to survive. She said she had borrowed money and paid an agent Rs 1.60 lakh for a job with a salary of Rs 45,000 per month. "I have to pay back the loan. I don't know what I'm going to do," she said. "It's like being caught in a death trap." Another nurse, Sumi Jose, who worked with Tikrit Teaching Hospital as a nurse, said, "We hear sounds of shooting and bombing outside the hospital. We are safe, for now. We have contacted the Indian ambassador in Iraq and the CM of Kerala. But there has been no action so far," Jose, who is from Kothamangalam, told TOI over phone from Tikrit. Red Cross officials however have told the nurses that it is not safe to travel to the airport. TOI