Dozens of Italian tourists evacuated from Yemeni island

ROME, Jan 7 (Reuters) – Italy has begun repatriating dozens of its citizens stranded on the Yemeni island of Socotra, with a first flight carrying 46 tourists due to land in Jeddah on Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Another 59 Italians remain on the island and are expected to return on additional flights in the coming days, as authorities work with Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Saudi authorities will grant the Italians a four-day transit visa to help facilitate their return home.

The United Arab Emirates last week withdrew its troops from Yemen under a deadline from Saudi Arabia, also leaving behind the remote Yemeni island of Socotra and roughly 600 tourists who had flown in but could no longer fly out.

Air traffic at the island’s main airport came to a halt as a deepening crisis between the UAE and Saudi Arabia translated into fresh conflict on Yemen’s mainland, where the two Gulf powers back opposing groups in the country’s civil war.

Socotra – which lies more than 300 km (185 miles) south of Yemen’s coast, and until recently was mainly accessible by air via the UAE – has been a haven of tranquillity through the years of conflict on the mainland.

(Reporting by Cristina Carlevaro;Writing by Keith Weir; Editing by Janet Lawrence)