PNS Aslat arrives with 146 Pakistanis from Yemen

Karachi
The Pakistan Navy vessel PNS Aslat arrived at the Karachi port on Tuesday after successfully evacuating 146 Pakistanis and 36 foreign nationals who had been stranded in Al Mukalla, Yemen.
The foreigners include eight citizens of China, five of Phillipines, four of the United Kingdom, two from Syria, one each from Canada, Egypt, Jordan and 11 from India.
PNS Aslat reached Al Mukalla on the morning of April 2. Although, the Yemeni authorities had restricted the movement of stranded personnel from assembly point to Al Mukalla Port due to deteriorated security situation in the city, the crew of PNS Aslat managed embarkation of stranded personnel onboard safely at the nearby Ash Shihr port.
“Today, PNS Aslat brought to Karachi 182 people including 36 foreigners stranded in Yemen,” said mission commander Commodore Zahid Ilyas.
Ilyas said that another Pakistan Navy vessel, PNS Shamsheer, will continue operating in the region.
“Given our resources, we will continue to help our citizens trapped in Yemen and will not rest until the last Pakistani returns home,” he said.
Ilyas said that some foreigners were not expecting that they would be kept with such hospitality on the vessel but he said that navy personnel “facilitated them in every possible way within our resources”.
“I am hopeful that the Indian citizens would go home as ambassadors of Pakistan after the hospitality they were treated with,” he said.
The Indian High Commissioner also thanked the Pakistan Navy for safely evacuating Indian citizens from Mukallah.
Meanwhile, PNS Shamsheer will arrive in Djibouti from Al Hudaydah with 63 Pakistanis and foreigners who were stranded in Yemen.
Besides safeguarding maritime interests of Pakistan, Pakistan Navy has always been at the forefront with the international community for providing humanitarian assistance.
The resolve and commitment was evident at numerous occasions in the past including the assistance rendered in Maldives and Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami and rescuing the crew of MV Suez from Pirates in 2011.