Seventeen Keralites who were trapped in strife-torn Libya reached Kochi international airport on Thursday morning.

Having escaped a shell attack in Tripoli on March 25, they had been living in adverse conditions since then.

A total of 29 Indians, most of them nurses working in different hospitals, were stranded in Libya after their visas expired on Wednesday, and they were unable to renew their documents.

The six Keralite families are reported to be from Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha. According to reports, the next batch of people will reach Chennai soon.

However, the nurses claimed that neither did the central government intervene to bring them back, nor did the Indian embassy provide much assistance. According to reports, Kerala government has promised to reimburse the money they had to spend on their own for the return journey. 

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