46 Indian nurses was rescued from ISIS captivity in strife-torn Iraq in 2014

Every yr, May 12 is noticed because the International Nurses Day to honour the work carried out by nurses and mark the contribution that they make to society. This yr, the day holds particular significance, provided that 1000’s and lakhs of nurses are working tirelessly throughout the globe within the battle towards the COVID-19 outbreak.
On this yr’s International Nurses Day, it’s value revisiting the dramatic escape of a gaggle of 46 nurses from the ISIS stronghold of Tikrit about seven years in the past. In June 2014, miserable information trickled in from the strife-torn Iraq, the place the Islamic State was making speedy territorial good points. The ISIS terrorists had managed to intrude into Tikrit because the Civil War between them and the Iraqi Army escalated.
On the midnight of 12 June 2014, all of the nurses, each Indian and Iraqis, heard a crackle of bullets on a street close by the hospital. For the Indian nurses, this was their first brush with Iraq’s altering actuality as they heard a volley of bullets being fired, together with a loud thud of noise coming from grenade explosions. Soon, the Iraqi nurses whispered amongst themselves to flee the city. The Indians, then again, knew that they had nowhere to go. 46 Indian nurses have been stranded within the hospital. All besides one of many 46 nurses have been from Kerala.
The subsequent day, ISIS terrorists had occupied the bottom flooring of the hospital. The Indian nurses lived on the second flooring of the hospital within the makeshift dormitories. All the hospital employees, together with the sufferers, have been hoarded up on the second flooring because the incessant firing continued on the bottom flooring.
One of the nurses who have been current on the hospital later recalled how the masked ISIS terrorists wielding weapons got here up on the second flooring each occasionally, asking them to verify on the sufferers downstairs. Terrified, they might accompany them and comply with their orders. Amidst the gloom of being in captivity of ISIS, their solely reprieve was their cellphones, they usually had the Indian embassy’s quantity on it.
On June 13, they known as up Ajay Kumar, the Indian ambassador in Baghdad, and requested him to assist them transfer out of the hospital. On the identical day, they known as the then Kerala CM Oommen Chandy, who reportedly supplied them help and requested them to not fear. He reportedly informed the nurses that the roads in Tikrit had been closed, and it was not advisable for them to journey in such circumstances.
For days on finish, the nurses lived in perpetual concern of being assaulted and executed by the hands of their ISIS captors, who have been additionally identified for committing unspeakable atrocities towards ladies and holding them as intercourse slaves. They spent their time in captivity watching TV bulletins and browsing information on their telephones, till the tv stopped working and the web was not accessible on the telephones.
Subsequently, the wards of the hospital started to empty out. In about 10 days, everybody had cleared out of the hospital, besides the Indian nurses. Hopes of evacuation began diminishing because the nurses have been knowledgeable that the ISIS fighters have been advancing and would anytime quickly seize the town and your entire hospital.
On the morning of June 30, the terrorists commanded them to vacate the hospital by 6:45 pm. Overwhelmed with concern and anxiousness, the nurses known as up Chandy and Kumar and informed them concerning the ultimatum given by the ISIS terrorists. They each requested the nurses to comply with the directives of the terrorists, for disobeying them could be harmful and will invite their wrath. However, the terrorists didn’t flip up that night.
With terrorists not coming to fetch them, the nurses stayed within the hospital for the following few days. On July 3, a gaggle of ISIS fighters emerged and requested the nurses to vacate the hospital in quarter-hour. They have been being shifted to Mosul. A bus was standing outdoors the hospital to move the nurses. Terrified by the destiny awaiting them, the nurses rang up the Indian Embassy and knowledgeable them concerning the growth. They have been suggested to plead with the terrorists to allow them to off however to go together with them if they didn’t relent.
As the nurses lugged themselves onto the bus, the terrorists assured them that they weren’t going to hurt the nurses, and escort them to security. They informed them that they have been being taken to Mosul after which to the Erbil airport from the place they might fly again to their nation. They have been taken to an air-conditioned room the place they have been requested to sleep.
Throughout their ordeal, the Indian Embassy in Baghdad steadfastly stored in contact with them on cellphone and at occasions recharging their pay as you go cell telephones. The subsequent day, that’s, on July 4, the terrorists returned and requested the nurses to prepare to go away for the airport. The ISIS terrorists had organized new buses to ferry the nurses and escort them to the border, the place that they had an workplace.
After reaching the border, the nurses patiently waited for the rescue crew however couldn’t get in contact with them. There was no cellphone community on the place. The rescue crew was 5 km away however they weren’t allowed to enter the ISIS-controlled space.
The workplace employees then organized one other bus to ferry the nurses to the rescue crew. They have been then taken to the navy workplace, after which Erbil airport after their paperwork have been verified. The Indian Government had organized a particular flight from Delhi to Erbil to fly the nurses again. After 23 days of traumatic expertise, the nurses, unscathed and unhurt, lastly boarded the flight on July 5 and returned dwelling.
The escape, which was dramatic and unprecedented, provided that ISIS had grow to be infamous for meting out brutalities on their hostages, is partly credited to the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who was constantly in contact with all the main international locations, together with Saudi Arabia and Iraq. It is believed that New Delhi activated casual channels and established peripheral contacts with ISIS, and different splinter teams in Iraq to precipitate the rescue. The overseas ministry later refused to determine interlocutors who had negotiated the discharge of the nurses.
It can also be mentioned that essential businessmen residing within the Gulf international locations performed a pivotal position in serving to the discharge of nurses. According to the sources, at the very least a few distinguished Malayalee businessmen have been lively together with numerous contacts within the Gulf area, to safe the discharge of the nurses.
The horrifying ordeal of Indian nurses stranded in a hospital in Iraq amidst the spectre of ISIS occupation was tailored in a Bollywood film Tiger Zinda Hai that had Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif in lead roles.