RIYADH — Saudi Arabia has begun evacuating Saudi citizens and a number of nationals from other countries from Sudan to Jeddah by sea on 5 Saudi ships. The evacuation process includes 158 people. The first batch arrived in Jeddah included 50 people, and was received by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Eng. Waleed Al-Khereiji. According to Al-Arabiya, Ambassador to Sudan Ali Bin Hassan Jafar, confirmed that the Sudanese side was responsive to their demands for the evacuation process. He added, the evacuation processions were not intercepted by the soldiers, and the whole process was smooth until their arrival in Port Sudan. He said that all members of the Saudi embassy in Sudan have been evacuated. The evacuation process has also included all the crew of the Saudia plane that was targeted at Khartoum International Airport. They arrived on the second ship at King Faisal Naval Base, Al-Ekhbariya said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had announced earlier on Saturday the start of arranging the evacuation of Saudi citizens and a number of nationals from other countries from Sudan to the Kingdom. This comes in implementation of the directives of Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman. It is noteworthy that the Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) suspended all flights from and to Sudan until further notice, after its plane Airbus 4330, Flight No. (59458) was shot at before it took off for Riyadh during the ongoing security situation in Sudan. After a week of fighting between two factions of the country's military leadership at least 400 people have been killed in Sudan.
