ISLAMABAD/RIYADH: A ship carrying another batch of evacuees from Sudan arrived in Jeddah early on Wednesday as the Saudi government continues to move its citizens, as well as foreign nationals, from the battle-scarred state to safety.
The ship transported 1,687 people from 58 nationalities from Port Sudan on the east coast of the African country on the Red Sea.
The Saudi-flagged ship “Amana” docked at the King Faisal Naval Base just before 5 a.m.
“In continuation of the evacuation efforts made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia under the directives of the Kingdom’s Leadership, several evacuees arrived from the Republic of Sudan to the city of Jeddah today by a Kingdom’s ship, which included 13 Saudi citizens and 1674 individuals of [various] nationalities,” said a statement by the Saudi foreign ministry.
The statement added the kingdom had helped Pakistani nationals along with the citizens belonging to the United States, United Kingdom, France, Afghanistan, India and other countries.
“The Kingdom worked to provide all the necessary needs of foreign nationals in preparation for facilitating their departures to their countries, bringing the total number of evacuees from Sudan since the evacuations began to approximately 2148 person,” the statement added.
As passengers disembarked, they were welcomed by base officials and diplomatic authorities from various nationalities.
Saudi Arabia has been involved in evacuating people fleeing the fighting in Sudan.
Dr. Abdulaziz Alwasil, Saudi Arabia’s Permanent Representative of to the United Nations, earlier stressed on the importance of preserving the current truce in Sudan.
At the UN Security Council in New York, he said the Kingdom is working with all its partners to stabilize the truce in Sudan, praising the cooperation of the Sudanese parties to facilitate the evacuation of civilians.
