Nurses rescued from IS in 2014 recount their ordeal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sitting alone in the bakery she runs in the village of Kodungoor in Kottayam district, Marina Jose, 43, says she can’t believe the 39 Indian workers taken captive by the Islamic State(IS) in 2014 had been killed.

Jose, who has always prayed for the workers, heard the news on radio on Tuesday. She was one of the 46 Indian nurses rescued from IS-held areas after 23 days of captivity in 2014.

The nurses — 45 from Kerala and one from Tamil Nadu — and the workers were abducted by IS militants almost at the same time. The nurses were taken captive after an attack on a hospital in Tikrit and the workers were kidnapped from a construction site in Mosul.

“We escaped from the jaws of death somehow. But sad our workers could not make it. It is cruel indeed. How can they kill innocent people who went there to work? It is nothing but savagery,” the senior nurse said, adding that the very thought of captivity gives her sleepless nights.

“At times, I used to have nightmares. Billowing smoke, charred vehicles and half-burnt bodies of many victims are fresh in my mind. At one point we almost lost all hope and some of us even yelled at people back home who were working hard for our release,” she said.

The nurses were herded onto the second floor of the hospital for many days, but they were never ill-treated by their abductors, Jose said .

“They never misbehaved with us. One of their leaders once said Indian nurses are known for their service. He said they will not target innocent people like us. But I don’t know what happened to our workers,” said the mother of two.

After having worked almost nine years abroad (five years in Saudi Arabia, three in Malaysia and one year in Iraq) she decided to take a break and set up a bakery in Kodungoor.

Last year’s award-winning Malayalam movie “Take off” is based on her life. She was honoured recently at the Loka Kerala Sabha, a forum for non-resident Keralites, in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital.

Except some like her most of the rescued nurses later returned to work in Gulf countries.

Another returnee who did not want to be identified said she really owed her life to then chief minister Oommen Chandy and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.

“Both the state and central governments really toiled to ensure our release. We are really indebted to them,” she said.

She said the nurses were treated well by militants. “We heard some of the surrendered women were made sex slaves by militants. We were more vulnerable and they could have done anything but they spared us,” she said.

Chandy, who played a key role in securing the release of the nurses, expressed shock over the killing of the workers.

“In nurses’ case I camped four days in Delhi and co-ordinated well with various agencies. Union minister Sushma Swaraj did good work. We really toiled to ensure their safe release,” said Chandy.