ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) successfully completed third evacuation mission from Sudan, said an official statement on Saturday, bringing back 97 more stranded Pakistanis from the northeastern state of Africa which has been ravaged by an armed conflict since the middle of this month.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif instructed the air force to use its transport fleet to evacuate stranded Pakistani nationals from Sudan along with those citizens who were already rescued by the Saudi naval ships that brought them to the safety of the kingdom’s Jeddah city.
“The PAF C-130 aircraft has landed back at Karachi carrying 97 more stranded Pakistanis from Sudan [and] raising the total number of fellow countrymen being airlifted from the conflict-hit area to 355,” said the official statement.
The PAF carried out the first two evacuation missions from Port Sudan and Jeddah on Friday in which it repatriated 260 Pakistanis. The first batch had 149 nationals while the second one contained 111.
Pakistan’s foreign office said on Friday the country’s stranded nationals were evacuated in different phases, the first of which included transporting over 800 Pakistanis from Sudan’s capital Khartoum to Port Sudan city, which it said is “relatively safe.”
It added the second phase of the process involves transporting Pakistani nationals from Port Sudan to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia or directly to Pakistan.
“Evacuation from Port Sudan to Jeddah continues including on ferries operated by the Saudi Government,” the foreign office informed. “Some passengers will also be transferred onboard a Chinese ship from Port Sudan to Jeddah.”
It thanked Saudi Arabia for transporting Pakistani nationals from Port Sudan to Jeddah and for hosting them until their repatriation to Pakistan.
“Our Consulate General Jeddah will continue to coordinate with Saudi authorities and extend assistance to Pakistanis during transit through Jeddah,” it added.
