Islamabad: The first group of 259 Pakistanis safely arrived in Karachi after a sudden evacuation from Sudan where fighting between the country’s two warring factions resulted in hundreds of casualties.
As many as 149 evacuees arrived in the southern port city of Karachi on Friday via a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Airbus that flew from Port Sudan via Jeddah. Another PAF C-130 flight carrying 110 Pakistani passengers also arrived at Jinnah Internation Airport Karachi on Friday (April 28) after successfully completing the evacuation mission from Sudan.
“This morning an aircraft carrying 149 Pakistani nationals evacuated from Sudan arrived in Karachi. Two other flights carrying around 200 Pakistanis are expected to arrive later today,” Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch confirmed. One of the flights departed from Port Sudan while the other departed from Jeddah to bring back Pakistanis who had earlier been evacuated there.
Phased evacuation
The evacuation process was successfully carried out through a robust inter-agency process led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The evacuation was executed in phases, with more than 800 Pakistanis being transported from Khartoum to Port Sudan in the first phase.
The second phase consists of transporting Pakistani nationals from Port Sudan to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, or directly to Pakistan. Further flights are scheduled, and evacuation from Port Sudan to Jeddah is also being facilitated by ferries operated by the Saudi Government. In addition, some passengers will be transferred to a Chinese ship from Port Sudan to Jeddah.
The Saudi Arabian government has been instrumental in providing transportation and hosting Pakistani nationals until their repatriation. Many of these Pakistanis expressed gratitude to Saudi Arabia for bringing them to the safety of its shores and facilitating the evacuation of those still stranded in Sudan.
Pakistan Air Force is continuing a swift evacuation of stranded Pakistanis from conflict-hit Sudan. “Air Force is making all-out efforts to repatriate stranded Pakistanis in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Pakistan Embassies in Sudan and Saudi Arabia” according to a statement by PAF.
