Sudan Conflict: Govt charters four planes to evacuate 555 Bangladeshis

Bangladesh has arranged four aircrafts to evacuate 555 Bangladeshis from conflict-stricken Sudan to Saudi Arabia.

"We have chartered four planes with our own funds as we are yet to find available ships from the Saudi authorities to transport the Bangladeshis from Port Sudan to Jeddah," said State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam yesterday.

Three of the flights were scheduled to fly yesterday and the other one today.

On Monday, 136 Bangladeshis, evacuated from Khartoum, were brought back home.

They were supported by IOM with air tickets through its internal emergency assistance funding mechanisms to travel from Jeddah to Dhaka with support from Biman Bangladesh Airlines.

Since May 2, about 700 Bangladeshis have been taken to Port Sudan, around 800km from Khartoum, on 13 buses.