RP sends plane to

RP sends plane to
Yemen for Filipinos

MANILA (Reuter): A Philippine Air Force C-130 plane left
Manila for Saudi Arabia yesterday to pick up hundreds of Filipino
workers stranded in war-ravaged neighboring Yemen, officials
said.

About 1,400 Filipinos are working in hotels, government
hospitals and multinational companies in Yemen. Some 1,000 of
them have asked to be evacuated.

Foreign Secretary Roberto Romulo said there were no reports of
casualties among the Filipinos but the government has warned its
nationals not to try to leave Yemen overland.

The C-130, to be based in Saudi Arabia, will airlift the
stranded Filipinos from the Yemen capital Sanaa to Riyadh for
repatriation aboard commercial flights.

Twenty-one Filipinos who escaped to Djibouti aboard a ship
from Aden are due to arrive back in Manila today, the foreign
ministry said.