Indian minister asks citizens working in Libyan hospital to leave

New Delhi : Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj urged all Indians working at a Libyan hospital to leave following a rocket attack that killed an Indian nurse and her infant son. The attack took place on Sunu Sathyan’s apartment in a town near the Libyan capital on Friday. Sathyan worked in a hospital in the town of Zawiya, Swaraj said in a tweet, adding that she has asked the 26 other Indians working at the hospital to leave the area.

Sathyan and her son Pranav were killed in the rocket attack on their apartment block yesterday at around 4pm in Zawiya city, 45km from Libyan capital Tripoli, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said.

“On 25 March 2016, around 4pm Mrs Sunu Sathyan an Indian nurse from Kerala and her son Pranav were killed when a rocket [hit] their apartment.

“We have got in touch with her husband Vipin Kumar. There are 26 more Indians working in Zawiya hospital,” Swaraj said in a series of tweets.

Sonu and the toddler were sleeping in their house when it was rocked by the explosion, her father Sathyan Nair, hailing from Kondadu in Kottayam district, said.

The victim was working as a nurse in Zawiya Medical centre AZ Zawiya, Libya. Her husband Vipin, who is a male nurse in Libya, was away on duty.

It was not immediately clear who fired the rocket.

According to a report from Kottayam, Kerala, Pranav was 18 months old.

Sunu and Vipin had left for Libya after their marriage in 2012.

The office of Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said they were making efforts to reach out to people in Libya to find out the latest situation.

An official in Chandy’s office said the chief minister spoke to Swaraj and sought all assistance of the central government.

“We have requested to see that the bodies are brought and also around 15 Keralites, who are working in Libya to return for good, after unrest continues there,” said the chief minister’s aide, who did not wish to be identified.

The External Affairs Minister made a fresh appeal, urging people in conflict zones to move out.

“We have issued advisories many times. I request you once again — Please move out of the conflict zones,” she said.

Nair has sought Kerala government’s help to bring back the mortal remains of his daughter and grandson.

“Yesterday I got information through phone that my daughter and her one-and-a-half-year-old baby died in a bomb blast at her residence while they were sleeping,” he said in his letter to the government.

Nair also requested for help and protection to Sunu’s husband, who he said is in a state of shock.

“I came to know that the blast occurred due to regular fights between the rival groups in Libya. So I humbly request your good self to make available the detailed information about the incident and help us bring back the dead body of my beloved daughter and her son, whom we have never seen.”

Meanwhile, state’s Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said eight to nine people are stranded in Libya and efforts are on to bring them back.

Libya’s chaos, five years after the uprising that led to the ouster and killing of longtime autocrat Muammar Gadaffi, has left the country deeply divided and ruled by an internationally recognised government and parliament based in the east and a rival government and parliament in Tripoli, backed by militias.