Islamabad, April 6 (IANS) A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft carrying 67 Pakistanis stranded in Yemen’s capital city of Sana’a landed at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport on Monday.
Flight PK-7006 first landed at Islamabad airport with a total 137 evacuees earlier on Sunday night, Geo News reported adding that 70 people got off at Islamabad.
Two Canadian and two Sudanese nationals were also on board.
Minister for States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) Abdul Qadir Baloch and Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Aviation Shujaat Azeem, besides foreign ministry officials, received the returning Pakistani nationals.
Before the Houthi takeover of Sana’a in September 2014, there were about 3,000 Pakistanis living in different parts of Yemen, the Pakistani foreign office said.
Over 500 Pakistanis were flown back to Pakistan on March 31. Yemen has been mired in deep political conflict since 2011.
The situation worsened when Shia Houthis rebels seized power in February this year and President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fled subsequently to Aden.