The Foreign Office (FO) has reported that a ship carrying 37 Pakistani nationals from Sudan, where hundreds have been killed and wounded in fighting between the army and paramilitaries, arrived in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah on Wednesday.
In a tweet, the FO stated that the “evacuation plan for Pakistani nationals in Sudan continues” and expressed gratitude to the Saudi Arabian government for its support and hospitality.
The Saudi Arabia Foreign Ministry said in a statement that a boat carrying 1,687 civilians from over 50 countries arrived in the kingdom today, marking the largest rescue effort by the Gulf state to date.
Fighting broke out in Sudan on 15 April between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy-turned-rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
According to UN agencies, at least 459 people have been killed and over 4,000 wounded across Africa’s third-biggest country as of Tuesday.
Although a three-day ceasefire was brokered between the warring generals on Tuesday, fresh air strikes were reported, and paramilitaries claimed to have seized a major oil refinery and power plant.
Since Saturday, Saudi Arabia has received several rounds of evacuees by air and sea, including boats carrying 150 people, a C-130 Hercules military plane that flew dozens of South Korean civilians to Jeddah’s King Abdullah Air Base, and a boat that ferried nearly 200 people from 14 countries across the Red Sea from Port Sudan.
A total of 2,148 people have been evacuated to the kingdom from Sudan so far, including more than 2,000 foreigners, the foreign ministry statement said.
