File Photo: Tribal gunmen loyal to the Huthi movement brandish their weapons during a gathering in Sanaa to show support the Shiite Huthi militia. (AFP Photo)
Pakistan has sent a jumbo jet and a naval frigate to evacuate its citizens and diplomatic staff stranded in war-torn Yemen, as Saudi-led air strikes hammered Shiite Huthi rebel targets, officials said today.
Pakistan's ambassador to Yemen Irfan Shami told state television that 482 Pakistanis will be evacuated on the first flight.
"The plane has landed at Hodeidah and boarding has started. On seeing the plane landing, stranded Pakistanis expressed their happiness by clapping," the ambassador told Pakistan Television.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was personally monitoring the evacuation and had directed the officials to ensure safe return of every citizen, a spokesman of Sharif's office said.
Earlier, PIA (Pakistan International Airlines) spokesman Hanif Rana told AFP that a 747 aircraft had been flown to Hodeidah.
A second, smaller plane with a capacity of 230 passengers was also being kept on stand by in Pakistan, he said. A frigate had also been sent to assist.
"A Pakistan navy frigate today left Karachi to rescue stranded Pakistanis in Yemen," a naval spokesman told AFP.
The frigate will remain on stand-by in the Gulf of Aden with full preparedness and, if the need arose, will participate in the evacuations, he said.
Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said late Saturday that around 3,000 Pakistanis lived in Yemen with some 1,000 trying to leave the country.
A convoy of 16 buses was carrying stranded Pakistanis from the capital of Sanaa to Hodeidah, he said, while some remained stranded in the southern government stronghold of Aden and were awaiting a lull in the fighting so they too could be rescued.
Restating Islamabad's staunch support for the Gulf kingdom, Chaudhry said a Pakistani delegation would soon leave for Riyadh, but rejected reports that the country would join the Saudi-led coalition bombing mission.
Pakistan is a longstanding ally of Saudi Arabia with close military ties, but Islamabad has not yet committed to the operation, which has drawn strong criticism from its neighbour Iran, the major Shiite Muslim power.