thiruvananthapuram five years ago a group of keralite nurses had flown down to kerala from the captivity of isis militants in strifetorn iraq with their mind full of relief and gratitude to a woman the then external affairs minister late sushma swarajthe timely intervention of swaraj who passed away following a massive cardiac arrest on monday nighthad helped the safe evacuation of 46 indian nurses including a large number of keralites from the conflict zone and brought them to their homeland in a special flight in july 2014not only the freed nurses but also the then kerala chief minister and senior congress leader oommen chandy had lavished praise on swaraj setting aside political differencesrecalling swarajs intervention chandy on tuesday said she had gone out of her way to extend support to safely evacuate the nurseschandy who was in new delhi paid his last respects to the late bjp leader who breathed her last at the all india institute of medical sciences late last nighti had called her past midnight to inform her that the air india flight which had gone to pick the stranded nurses could not land in iraqshe told me not to worry and ensured that everything would be held as planned he saidas promised she called back within 15 minutes after managing to get permission for the aircraft to land at the airport there the former chief minister said adding that her timely and effective intervention had actually helped make the immediate evacuation of the nurses possiblemerina one among the 46 nurses who was rescued from iraq told pti that the news of sushma swarajs death came as a rude shockwe felt the warmth and affection of sushama ji she never looked at the politics and religion of those who were in need of any help abroad she just considered everyone as indians merina now working as a nurse at marine medical centre at pala in kottayam saidthe ordeal of the nurses who were working at a hospital in saddam husseins hometown of tikrit had begun when isis islamic state for iraq and syria militants had launched an offensive in that region on june 9 in 2014even as indian authorities continued to maintain constant touch with their counterparts in iraq for the safe release of nurses they were moved outagainst their will and detained in the militantheld city of mosul 250 km from tikritintense efforts by swaraj and the external affairs ministry led to the rescue of the nurses and their safe evacuation in buses to erbil international airport located 70 km from mosulfrom there they were brought to mumbai first and then to kochi in a special flightsetting aside his political differences chandy had then thanked the centreswaraj the indian embassy in iraq and the mea for ensuring the safe return of the nurses from strifehit iraq