A FAMILY fleeing Sudan say they are among thousands stuck at the border with Egypt because drivers are demanding $40,000 (£31,810) to hire a bus to travel across.
Only people travelling on buses with special permits can cross the border. Crossing on foot is banned.
The family of seven, including three children under 10, escaped the fighting in the capital Khartoum two days ago.
Fadi Atabani said his family, including an 88-year-old woman, were trapped.
“There are thousands of people here. There is no accommodation. People are sleeping in schools or [on] mattresses,” he said, speaking to the BBC from the border town of Wadi Halfa.
Most of the family have British nationality and Mr Atabani is appealing to the UK authorities for help.
“I cannot guarantee my children’s medical health here we are in the middle of the desert. I want the British government to assist me in evacuating or a bus which can get us across the border,” he said.
Mr Atabani accused local bus drivers of taking advantage of the desperate situation travellers found themselves in.
“On a normal day the cost of hiring a bus is $3,000. As of today people are paying $40,000 to charter a bus to the border – only 30km,” he said.
“Who has that sort of money? The banks were closed, ATM machines are not working,” the 53-year-old said.
Meanwhile, Khartoum resident Hosna, who declined to give her surname, told the BBC she had two daughters trapped in the Sudanese capital. She said they faced fares of over $400 each to travel to the border. Before the fighting broke out, the journey cost around $25.
Hosna arrived in the Egyptian city of Aswan before the conflict began. “My daughters saw an artillery shell fall in our neighbourhood. I could not bring them here. I don’t have a husband or a son to help them. I work day in day out to save money,” she said.
To try to make the money, she took a job serving in a tea shop at the same bus station that has become a hub for refugees near Aswan.
“Sudan is completely destroyed. They [fighters] are targeting people in their homes,” Hosna said.
Esraa Bani, a Sudanese-American academic who has flown to Aswan to help people arriving, said the bus prices had increased “astronomically”.
“They funded their own evacuation, they are stripped out of dignity. It is such a painfully disastrous situation,” she told the BBC.
Clashes between the Sudanese army and paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began on 15 April. Hundreds of people have since died and thousands have been injured in the conflict.