What they say

"Only 35 minutes after we started the evacuation, at 10:50 am, a mortar shell dropped 5 kilometers away from our ship. There was a lot of smoke, and the firing was very close. We had just started security checks and very few of the evacuees were on board."

Jiang Guoping, officer with the PLA navy's 19th convoy fleet

"As all-weather friends, Pakistani and Chinese cooperation in ensuring the safe evacuation of our citizens has been exemplary. To ensure the earliest possible evacuation, we enlisted Chinese support since their ships were already in the region evacuating their nationals from Aden to Djibouti."