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A nurse said the militants were courteous after they took control of Tikrit Teaching Hospital on Wednesday. The nurses have been on razor’s edge since June 10 when ISIS fighters took control of Tikrit, the hometown of Saddam Hussain, and massacred 1,700 Iraqi air force recruits there.

"For the moment we’re safe in the hospital," another nurse, Jency James, said. "We hear gunfire but don’t know what’s going on." She said the rebels had asked the nurses not to venture out of the hospital. "Though we have basic necessities, we’re concerned about our safety," she said. "The bombing has cut off our internet connections and we don’t know how long our phones will work."

Their seeming bravado notwithstanding, many of the nurses like Jency seem caught between the devil and the deep sea. Jency said 15 of the 46 nurses had not been paid for four months and were finding it difficult to survive. She said she had borrowed money and paid an agent Rs 1.60 lakh for a job with a salary of Rs 45,000 per month. "I have to pay back the loan. I don’t know what I’m going to do," she said. "It’s like being caught in a death trap." 

Another nurse, Sumi Jose, who worked with Tikrit Teaching Hospital as a nurse, said, "We hear sounds of shooting and bombing outside the hospital. We are safe, for now. We have contacted the Indian ambassador in Iraq and the CM of Kerala. But there has been no action so far," Jose, who is from Kothamangalam, told TOI over phone from Tikrit. Red Cross officials however have told the nurses that it is not safe to travel to the airport. 

India’s special envoy Suresh Reddy arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday and started talks with the Iraqi leadership and rebels to secure the release of 40 Indian construction workers ISIS fighters captured in the Mosul on Tuesday. The Indian mission is also trying to bring home other Indians stranded in Iraq. Ambassador to the UAE T P Seetharam told TOI over telephone from Abu Dhabi that diplomatic efforts are on to evacuate 12 Indian workers employed by a UAE company in Iraq. 

"We were approached by a leading company in the UAE that wants diplomatic help to repatriate 12 Indian workers," Seetharam said. The contact details of the 12 stranded workers have been handed over to the Indian Embassy in Baghdad, he said.

Sona Joseph, another Malayali at the same hospital, said that they are struggling for food and water. "People from Red Cross bring us milk and water, which is a great relief," said the Ettumanoor native. The nursing staff has not reported for duty for the past five days. 

In Kerala, parents and relatives of these nurses are frustrated. "My daughter told me that all Americans in their group have been evacuated by US officials. She is asking me why Keralites have been left in the lurch," said an angry Jose from Pallikathodu, whose daughter Mareena is stranded in Iraq. 

Jose, bedridden for the past four years after he fell off a tree, said his other daughter Neethu — working in a Basra hospital — is safe. "She called today. The place where she is working is not facing troubles," he said.