Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention to secure release of nurses trapped in Yemen.

“I have received frantic calls from Indian nurses stranded in Yemen.

“They were weeping saying they are receving death threats. If urgent steps are not taken, their plight might become worse,” Chandy said in a letter released to the media.

He said some hospitals, including Sanaa Military Hospital, are not permitting them to leave the war-torn country.

“They are demanding compensation and withholding their passports.

“The Indian Embassy should contact all such hospitals and do the needful to release them since the nurses and paramedical staff cannot pay any compensation.”

Chandy’s concerns came at a time when New Delhi started evacuating its citizens via the neighboring country of Djibouti. The first batch of 350 Indians, 206 of them from Kerala, reached Cochin airport on Wednesday evening.

“I feel that your urgent intervention is required to bring back all Indians from the war-hit country,” he said.

“An effective, time-bound evacuation has to be evolved without delay,” he said.

He urged the prime minister to use all good offices to get landing facility in Sanaa and other airports in Yemen.

More flights and ships may be sent for evacuation so as to complete the process at the earliest.

He said Indians in Yemen must be granted exit passes and required documents so that they can leave the country easily.