All Pakistanis to be ‘evacuated from Sudan in two days’

FO says 93 more reached country in fourth batch of evacuees

ISLAMABAD:

The Foreign Office on Monday said that nearly all 1,000 Pakistanis would be evacuated from the conflict-hit Sudan within the next 24 to 48 hours.

A brief statement issued by the FO stated that 93 more Pakistanis stranded in Sudan had reached the country in the fourth batch of evacuees.

It said that the latest batch arrived at Islamabad airport on Monday via flight no PK754.

93 stranded Pakistani nationals in Sudan arrived at Islamabad International Airport via PK754 today.

— Spokesperson 🇵🇰 MoFA (@ForeignOfficePk) May 1, 2023

As per the statement, a total of 636 stranded Pakistanis had returned home as they landed in Karachi via Jeddah separately on five special Pakistan Air Force flights to date.

With the latest batch of evacuees, as many as 729 Pakistanis have been repatriated to the country so far.

The FO has been working to repatriate Pakistanis stranded in the war zone since the conflict began earlier this month.

Read 37 Pakistanis reach Jeddah from Sudan

The Pakistanis in Sudan are first evacuated to Port Sudan and then transferred to Jeddah where the PAF is bringing them back home.

Earlier during the day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — responding to a statement by the Saudi foreign ministry — took to Twitter to thank Saudi Arabia for its support and assistance to distressed Pakistanis in a difficult time.

“We are grateful to the brotherly country of Saudi Arabia for its support and assistance to Pakistanis in distress in this difficult time,” the tweet read.

The Saudi foreign ministry had shared an update on the arrival of Pakistani in Jeddah a day earlier.

“A transport plane belonging to the Royal Saudi Air Force arrived in Jeddah with 45 Saudi citizens and 36 people of Pakistani nationality, and the ship of H M S ‘Al-Diriyah’ arrived in Jeddah, with 52 nationals of brotherly and friendly countries on board,” the Kingdom’s ministry wrote in its tweet.