In 2014 a chemistry PhD student named Firas Jumaah returned to his native Iraq while on break from Lund University, located outside of Malmo, Sweden. He returned in order to help his family escape ISIS, which at that time was sweeping northern Iraq, especially decimating the ethno-religious Yazidi community, to which Jumaah's family belonged. 

In a cryptic text message Jumaah notified his graduate professor in Analytical Chemistry, Charlotta Turner, that he would not be returning to his studies. ISIS had advanced so rapidly that Jumaah and his family were trapped behind Islamic State lines.

According to Sweden's The Local, which broke the story, Jumaah notified Lund University that he and his family were "hiding out in a disused bleach factory, with the sounds of gunshots from Isis warriors roaming the town reverberating around them."