By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: A ship carrying 37 Pakistani citizens departed war-torn Sudan and arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, Pakistan’s foreign minister said.
The Foreign Office said in a tweet that the “evacuation plan for Pakistani nationals in Sudan continues” and that the group was received by Pakistan’s envoy in Jeddah upon arrival at the port.
The FO expressed gratitude to the government of Saudi Arabia for its support and hospitality.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry in a statement said the boat transported 1,687 civilians from over 50 countries to the kingdom, marking the largest rescue operation undertaken by the Gulf state thus far.
The ministry added that the group was “transported by one of the Kingdom’s ships, and the Kingdom was keen to provide all the basic needs of foreign nationals in preparation for their departure.”
The kingdom has been evacuating individuals by air and sea since the start of the crisis, with boats arriving in Jeddah on Saturday carrying 150 individuals, including foreign officials and diplomats.
Earlier, a C-130 Hercules military aircraft transported dozens of South Korean civilians to Jeddah’s King Abdullah Air Base, and a boat ferried almost 200 people from 14 countries across the Red Sea from Port Sudan.
Thirteen of the civilians who arrived on Wednesday were Saudi, while the rest came from countries across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, North and Central America, according to the foreign ministry.
The statement added that a total of 2,148 people have been evacuated to the kingdom from Sudan so far, including over 2,000 foreigners.
A day before, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said another 211 Pakistani nationals had been evacuated from violence-ridden Sudan, bringing the total number of rescued nationals to 700.
In a statement, the minister said “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to lead in the relief and rescue of Pakistanis in Sudan” in keeping with the government of Pakistan’s dedication to the well-being of overseas Pakistanis.
The government of Pakistan is facilitating the return of those who reached Jeddah by sea through Pakistan International Airlines and Pakistan Air Force planes. Temporary residence and food arrangements have been made, and an emergency helpline has been established at Pakistan’s embassy in Sudan.
According to international media reports, fighting flared anew in Sudan late on Tuesday despite a ceasefire declaration by the warring factions. The Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire beginning on Tuesday after negotiations mediated by the US and Saudi Arabia. But gunfire and explosions could be heard after nightfall in Omdurman, one of Khartoum’s sister cities on the Nile River where the army used drones to target RSF positions, a Reuters reporter said.
Since Sudan erupted in warfare between the army and the RSF on April 15, derailing a transition to civilian democracy, the paramilitaries have embedded themselves in residential districts, and the army has sought to target them from the air. The fighting has turned residential areas into battlefields. Air strikes and artillery have killed at least 459 people, wounded over 4,000, destroyed hospitals, and limited food distribution in a nation where a third of its 46 million people rely on food aid.
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