(Jeddah) A boat carrying 1,687 civilians fleeing the fighting in Sudan and originating from more than 50 countries arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry announced.
All of the evacuees were “transported by one of the Kingdom’s ships, and the Kingdom was keen to meet all the essential needs of foreign nationals”, the Saudi ministry said in a statement.
Sudan plunged into chaos on April 15, hostage to fighting between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, army chief and de facto ruler of Sudan since the 2021 putsch, and his number two Mohamed Hamdane Daglo, chief of paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
According to the UN, more than 459 people were killed and more than 4,000 injured.
A three-day US-brokered ceasefire between the warring sides has brought some calm to Khartoum but witnesses have reported airstrikes and fighting.
Several evacuation operations by air and sea have already been organized by Saudi Arabia. On Saturday, 150 people arrived by boat in Jeddah, a port city in Saudi Arabia.
On Monday, a C-130 Hercules military plane ferried dozens of South Korean civilians to an airbase in Jeddah and a boat was used to ferry nearly 200 people from 14 countries across the Red Sea from Port Sudan.
Thirteen of the civilians who arrived on Wednesday were Saudis, the rest were from countries in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, North America and Central America, according to the Foreign Ministry statement. .
A total of 2,148 people have been evacuated from Sudan to Saudi Arabia so far, including more than 2,000 foreigners, according to the statement.