CM Oommen Chandy arrives at Kochi Airport to receive Indian nurses

 Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chnady on Saturday arrived at the Kochi Airport to receive the Indian nurses who are returning home after being freed by ISIS militants in Iraq.

"I am feeling relieved. Not only me, the whole people of Kerala are feeling relieved," said Chandy.

He said that it was the joint effort of the Kerala Government and the central government which has resulted in nurses being freed from captivity.

The special Air India flight carrying the nurses along with 137 others arrived at Mumbai earlier today. The plane will be reaching Kochi at around 12 p.m. From there the plane would make next stop at Hyderabad and will be going to its last destination Delhi in the evening.

Anxious family members of the nurses were eagerly awaiting their arrival.

The 46 nurses had been reportedly taken away by ISIS militants from Tikrit to an old building somewhere in Mosul late on Thursday night.

There were about 10,000 Indians in Iraq before the start of the strife between government troops and Sunni militants. The militants have captured two key cities and have their sights set on Baghdad. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been displaced in the fighting that broke out on June 10.