The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Coimbatore News : Back home safe from Libya

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Monday, Feb 28, 2011
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore

Back home safe from Libya

V.S. Palaniappan

Dentist from Tripoli received by father at airport

Photo: K. Ananthan

All smiles:O.M. Kavitha and her two children who arrived from Libya being received by her father Marusamy (left) at the Coimbatore Airport on Sunday. -

Coimbatore: “Anticipating the crisis, we stocked food and remained indoors for seven days”, said O.M. Kavitha, a dentist from Tripoli in Libya to reporters on her arrival at the Coimbatore Airport on Sunday afternoon before heading for Kavundapadi in Erode district.

Ms. Kavitha along with her two children Anirudh (3) and Abhinand (2) landed here by an Air India flight from New Delhi. She was received at the airport by her father Marusamy, a retired school headmaster.

“Though Tripoli remained by and large peaceful, eastern Libya especially Benghazi witnessed large-scale incidents of violence”, Ms. Kavitha said.

“Phone lines and internet connections are working in Tripoli and I foresee no problem in communicating with my husband”, she said.

Demonstration by pro-democracy supporters seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi and the resultant crackdown on them by the dictator him using the armed forces, led to foreign nationals leaving Libya.

Ms. Kavitha was all praise for the Indian Embassy officials in Libya for the help they extended to Indians. We were constantly in touch with them.

Nearly 18,000 Indians in and around Tripoli were waiting and watching the situation and were undecided on leaving Libya, hoping that things would stabilise.

“In fact, India had sent two aircraft for bringing its nationals back home and the flights were not filled to capacity”, she said.

Her husband Saravanan, working with the Libyan Government, is waiting for the exit visa and is expected to join the family shortly.

The other family that returned from Libya was that of an engineer Arun Prasad (43), his wife Reshmi (35) and kids Dhwani and Adhira aged 10 and seven, respectively.

Reception Tahsildar S. Venkatasamy and North Tahsildar S. Sundarrajan received the two families.

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