11 April 2015 – The Philippine Government has successfully evacuated 464 Filipinos and 9 foreigners from Yemen in 4 batches by land through the Yemeni-Saudi border since April 05. The last batch was evacuated on April 09 and included 79 Filipinos and 6 foreigners (4 Singaporeans, 1 Yemeni spouse and 1 Egyptian spouse). They started their trip from Sana’a in the morning and arrived in Saudi Arabia in the evening of the same day. The group was assisted at the border by a team from the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah, led by Acting Consul General Leo Tito Ausan Jr.

ACTUAL EVACUATION

The Philippine government has already repatriated to the Philippines 240 Filipinos from the 464 evacuated from Yemen. The Philippine Embassy in Riyadh arranged their flights from Jizan to Riyadh to Manila on four flights on April 08, 10, and 11 through various airlines, including Cathay Pacific, Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Cebu Pacific.  A group of 50 Filipinos will arrive in Manila via PAL at 10:00 a.m. today April 11, with another group of 100 arriving on the same day via Cebu Pacific at 3:30 p.m.  The Philippine Embassy in Riyadh is working to repatriate all Filipinos who have been evacuated as soon as possible.

Flights to MNL

“I wish to thank the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for allowing the entry of evacuees from Yemen through the Tuwal border, and granting them transit visas while the Embassy arranges their repatriation to the Philippines. The processing at the Saudi-Yemeni border has been generally smooth, and there are composite teams from the Embassy and the Consulate at the border to assist in the processing of entry of Filipino evacuees from Yemen,” Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Yemen Ezzedin Tago said.

There are currently 3 in Sana’a, Yemen and another 42 in Saada, northern Yemen who registered for repatriation. The Philippine Embassy’s Crisis Management Team (CMT) based in Sana’a, currently led by Consul Winston Dean Almeda, is arranging for the next group of evacuees to return to the Philippines

“I again strongly urge all Filipinos who remain in Yemen to immediately contact the Embassy team to arrange for their evacuation from Yemen immediately,” said Ambassador Tago.

“I was in Yemen from March 20 to April 5 to urge all Filipinos there to leave and avail of the Philippines’ mandatory repatriation. Starting in October 2014, the Philippine government raised the alert level to 3 and advised everyone to leave Yemen. Since then, the Embassy had assigned personnel to encourage Filipinos to leave Yemen. On February 18, the Philippine government raised the alert level to 4 and implemented mandatory repatriation for Filipinos in Yemen. We hope that everyone in Yemen will respond positively to our advice and contact the CMT based in Sanaa to arrange for their repatriation”,added the Ambassador.

The CMT can be contacted through telephone numbers

+967 730 194 165, +967 737 426 292, +967 733 844 958, and +967 738 451 828

and via e-mail to cmt-This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. END