The International Organization for Migration said Sunday it had flown a first planeload of foreign nationals out of Yemen and aimed to continue evacuating foreigners stranded in the conflict-torn country.

"The operation was a success and paves the way for continuing the evacuations of more than 16,000 third country nationals who are stranded in Yemen," IOM said, adding that it had been working for more than a week to get clearance for the flight that carried 143 foreigners from Sanaa to Khartoum Sunday.