The 46 Indian nurses stranded in Iraq's Tikrit town hardly slept through the night and till early Thursday morning had not boarded a bus brought for them by ISIS militants, said a source.

 

 "One of the nurses called up her home in Kerala today early morning and passed on this information. They continue to have no clue what is going to happen next," the source told IANS.

 

 The nurses had not boarded the bus till 5.45 a.m.  "The safety of these nurses is of prime concern. We wish to get them back at the earliest," Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who reached Delhi late last night, told reporters before his meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

 

 Another source said that Chandy "spoke to the nurses and also to the Indian embassy officials in Baghdad".

 

 Wednesday was the second time in two days that these nurses refused to board the bus brought by "some English-speaking men" to the hospital compound in Tikrit where they have been stranded for more than two weeks. 

 

 P.Sudip, chief executive of Roots-Norka, the state agency of the diaspora, told IANS that ever since the TV channels began airing reports since late last night, there have been numerous calls to him from the relatives of these nurses.

 

 "All of them here are deeply worried of the turn of events in Iraq. We are also on our toes…," said Sudip.