Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 16 (IANS): Eighty-seven nurses from Kerala working in Libya are all set to return home in the coming days, says an official here, adding that the remaining 600 nurses have not expressed desire to return at the moment.

P. Sudeep, CEO of Roots-Norka (the Kerala agency that looks after the welfare of the diaspora) told IANS that 12 nurses reached Tunisia Tuesday morning, 22 more will be reach there Wednesday morning, and the remaining 53 will move to Tunisia in the coming days.

"We have sent a list of 87 nurses from Kerala working in Libya to the central government seeking their help for repatriation. Of the remaining 600 nurses, 99 per cent are from Kerala but they have expressed their desire to remain there," said Sudeep.

He added that the state officials are in constant touch with the Indian authorities in Libya as the returning nurses have to travel 300 km by road from Benghazi to Liberac airport and from there they fly to Tunisia. "Thirty-four of them are expected to fly out from Tunisia to Dubai tomorrow and from there to Kochi," said Sudeep.

Over the last few months hundreds of nurses from Libya who expressed their desire to the Kerala government to return have been brought home with the help of the ministry of external affairs.