Saibella, the wife of Albert Augustine, a Malayali security officer killed in the recent civil unrest, is stuck without water or food in her apartment along with her daughter Marita. They are in the same apartment where Albert was killed by a stray bullet while talking to his son on the phone near a window. ‘All the other foreign nationals from her building have been rescued by their respective countries’, Saibella told Manorama News over the phone. The Indian government had announced earlier that it is preparing to bring back its citizens, however, the date or time of the mission is not clear yet.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has evacuated 157 people, including 91 Saudi nationals and citizens of other countries, through a navy ship from Port Sudan to Jeddah. Fighting has continued in Omdurman, despite the truce declared for the three-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Thick black smoke filled the sky over Khartoum’s airport, which has been targeted and paralysed by the Sudanese armed forces and the powerful paramilitary group, known as the Rapid Support Forces, reducing many civilian aircraft to ruins and gutting at least one runway.
US special forces have evacuated some 70 US embassy staffers from Khartoum to an undisclosed location in Ethiopia early Sunday, after a week of bloody battles that hindered rescue efforts. Although American officials said it was still too dangerous to carry out a government-coordinated mass evacuation of private citizens, other countries scrambled to evacuate their citizens and diplomats. Travel across areas contested by the warring parties has proven dangerous, as other airports across the country have also been knocked out of operation.