SAUDI nationals and others rescued from battle-scarred Sudan arrived by sea to the port city of Jeddah Saturday in the first announced evacuation since fighting broke out, Saudi state television said.
“The first evacuation vessel from Sudan has arrived, carrying 50 (Saudi) citizens and a number of nationals from friendly countries,” the official Al-Ekhbariyah television said.
The boat docked at the Red Sea port of Jeddah where four other ships carrying 108 people from 11 different countries was expected to arrive later from Sudan, the broadcaster said.
Al Ekhbariyah carried footage of large vessels arriving in Jeddah’s port. It also released a video showing women and children carrying Saudi flags on board one of the ships.
Saturday’s evacuations mark the first major civilian rescue since violence in Sudan broke out on April 15.
Earlier Saudi foreign ministry said the kingdom has begun arranging to evacuate Saudi citizens and nationals of “brotherly” countries from Sudan amid armed conflict there.
The fighting that broke out a week ago in Sudan has killed at least 413 people and injured 3,551, according to the World Health Organization.
Saudi Arabia’s embassy had already been evacuated out by land to Port Sudan and flown out from there and Jordan’s would follow in a similar manner, the Sudanese army added.
The Sudanese army also said it was coordinating efforts to evacuate diplomats from the United States, Britain, China and France out of the country on military airplanes, as fighting persisted in the capital, including at its main airport.
The military said that army chief General Abdul Fattah Al Burhan had spoken to leaders of various countries requesting safe evacuations of their citizens and diplomats from Sudan.
Foreign countries have struggled in vain to repatriate their citizens, a task deemed far too risky as clashes between the Sudanese army and a rival powerful paramilitary group have raged in and around Khartoum, including in residential areas.
The main international airport near the center of the capital has been the target of heavy shelling as the paramilitary group, known as the Rapid Support Forces, has tried to take control of the complex, complicating evacuation plans. With Sudan’s airspace closed, foreign countries have ordered their citizens to simply shelter in place until they can figure out evacuation plans.
In Khartoum, the army said it had agreed to help evacuate foreign nationals as sporadic gunfire and air strikes echoed across Khartoum despite promises by warring sides to cease fire for three days.