Saudi halted strikes to facilitate Pakistanis’ evacuation from Yemen

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia halted its ongoing air strikes and bombardment on Yemen’s Al-Hudaydah city for two hours to make way for stranded Pakistani nationals to be evacuated safely and return to their country, military official said on Monday morning.

Brigadier General Ahmed Asiri, the spokesman of Saudi Arabia’s armed forces made the statement on the state television here.

Around 500 Pakistanis on board from Yemen had reached Karachi airport earlier on Sunday night. Families of the passengers on board PIA's special flight PK-7002 gathered at Jinnah International Airport to receive their loved ones.

The flight landed at around 23:30pm and further transported several passengers to Islamabad early morning on Monday where Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pervaiz Rashid and Tariq Fazal Chaudhry welcomed them.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered to send more flights to Yemen to escort more stranded Pakistanis in the next 48 hours.