Efforts to Evacuate All Stranded Pakistanis from Yemen Continue

It is heartening that over 500 stranded Pakistanis in Yemen have been timely evacuated, owing to the personal guidance of the Prime Minister and the excellent coordination of all concerned departments, including PIA. The focus of our endeavours has now shifted to evacuate the remaining Pakistanis, stuck mainly in Aden and Mokallah.

The renewed fighting around Aden has prevented the envisaged movement of Pakistanis stranded in Aden to Mokallah, which is at about nine hours’ driving distance. As such, even as a PIA aircraft is on stand-by to fly to Mokallah to air-lift the stranded Pakistanis in Aden and Mokallah, we now have to use the sea evacuation option.

Two Pakistani Navy ships have been dispatched to the area and are expected to reach in a few days. These vessels will evacuate Pakistanis from Aden and Mokallah. All logistic arrangements for the evacuation are being worked out presently.

The possibility of evacuation from Aden through Chinese assistance is also being explored, in parallel, since Chinese vessels are currently undertaking evacuation operations for their citizens in Aden.

Islamabad
March 30, 2015

89/2015