Russia evacuates over 650 from Yemen

Russia on Sunday evacuated more than 650 people of different nationalities from war-torn Yemen by air and sea, officials said.

A Russian navy ship took 308 people earlier Sunday while around 350 people were later able to leave on two Russian planes.

"The two planes took off from Sanaa this afternoon," a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Yemen told the Interfax news agency, without giving details of the evacuees' nationalities.

Earlier, a defence ministry official said that the 308 evacuated by sea were en route to Djibouti and included 45 Russians, 18 Americans, five British nationals, 159 Yemenis and citizens of former Soviet states and the Middle East.

"All evacuated persons are safely on board the Russian ship which will deliver them to Djibouti by morning," ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov told Russian agencies.

Russia has been evacuating its own and other citizens by air from the capital Sanaa and by sea from Aden since its consulate was hit on March 29.

The International Organization for Migration meanwhile said Sunday it had also flown 143 foreign nationals out of Yemen and aimed to continue evacuating foreigners stranded in the conflict-torn country.

Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels have seized swathes of territory in Yemen since they entered Sanaa in September 2014, forcing the government to flee.

Yemen slid deeper into turmoil after a Saudi-led air campaign began on March 26 to push back the rebels' advance after they forced President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee the country.
Source: AFP