ISLAMABAD: According to the Foreign Office official, the first batch of 149 Pakistanis evacuated from the conflict-hit Sudan arrived safely in Karachi on Friday.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the FO’s spokeswoman, posted the following on Twitter: “Safe evacuation of every Pakistani and bringing them home safe remains our top priority.”
The Pakistanis who were evacuated from Sudan have been welcomed home by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. He welcomed home the first batch of 149 Pakistanis evacuated from Sudan, who had made it safely to Karachi on a PIA-operated airbus, in a tweet. We’ll keep working until, as soon as possible, every Pakistani in Sudan has been evacuated and returned safely.
I welcome home first batch of 149 Pakistanis evacuated from Sudan who arrived safely at Karachi via a PIA operated airbus. We will continue to work until every Pakistani in Sudan is evacuated and brought home safe at the earliest. Inshallah! https://t.co/ehvpQi0z5E
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) April 28, 2023
Fighting broke out in Sudan on 15 April between Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s army chief allies and those of Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, the man in charge of the potent paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and his former deputy and rival.
According to UN agencies, at least 459 people have died and more than 4,000 have been injured across the third-largest country in Africa as of Tuesday.
Beginning with boats that arrived in Jeddah last week carrying 150 people, including international ambassadors and officials, Saudi Arabia has welcomed multiple waves of evacuation by air and water.
Up to 200 passengers from 14 different countries crossed the Red Sea on a boat from Port Sudan on Monday, and dozens of South Korean citizens were flown to Jeddah’s King Abdullah Air Base by a military C-130 Hercules aircraft.
According to a statement from the Saudi Foreign Ministry, 13 of the civilians who arrived on Wednesday were Saudi citizens. The remaining civilians were from other Middle Eastern, African, European, Asian, North American, and Central American nations.