Beijing, April 3 (IANS): China's evacuation of foreigners from Yemen is a special rescue mission based on humanitarianism and has been done at the request of relevant countries, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday.

Hua Chunying told a daily press briefing that the special rescue efforts by the Chinese government to evacuate foreign citizens embody the government's people-first principle and the spirit of internationalism and humanitarianism, state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

According to Hua, China helped 10 countries evacuate 225 of their citizens in conflict-ridden Yemen on Thursday, including 176 from Pakistan, 29 from Ethiopia, five from Singapore, four from Poland, three from Italy, three from Germany, two from Britain, one from Canada, one from Ireland and one from Yemen.

China's Linyi missile frigate evacuated the people and they arrived in Djibouti safely. Chinese warships have also helped evacuate eight nationals of Romania, India and Egypt while evacuating Chinese citizens.

Hua said the People's Liberation Army Navy dispatched warships to the Port of Aden, and Chinese embassies and consulates in Yemen and Djibouti have made arrangements and worked to organise a safe evacuation.

The security situation deteriorated sharply in Yemen since early March when fighting erupted in several provinces in the country's southern regions.

The Shia Houthi group launched attacks on Aden city, which Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi declared as the temporary capital after he fled weeks of house arrest by the Houthis in the capital Sanaa.

On March 26, a Saudi-led coalition started airstrikes on Houthi targets in Sanaa and other cities, saying the multinational action was to protect Hadi's legitimacy and force the Houthis to retreat from cities it seized since September 2014.