The rocket that tore through a minivan outside the Aden Grand Hotel last week killing nine men, women and children was a clear message that it was time to leave. Yemen's civil war had come too close for comfort.

As Shiite Muslim fighters closed in on Aden to confront President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his supporters, they cut off all escape routes by road and foreigners in the city began jostling for a way out.

Workers from the oil, shipping and services industries, as well as doctors, engineers and students made for the old port terminal erected by Aden's colonial British rulers more than 90 years ago. They included Indians, Nepalis, Syrians, Egyptians and Iraqis, as well as British and Americans, some of Yemeni origin.