KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Op Sudan task force has evacuated 26 people of various nationalities in addition to the 30 Malaysians who were stranded in Khartoum.
The Foreign Ministry said the 56 people were evacuated from Sudan's capital and they had safely arrived at the Sudan Port yesterday to continue their journey out of the country.
"The evacuees reached the Sudan Port at 2.07pm local time on April 24 after a 1,323km journey which took 30 hours," it said in a statement today.
The death toll has been rising due to the armed conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Force (RSF), which began about two weeks ago.
The ministry said the additional 26 foreign nationals comprised one Thai, Filipino, Sudanese and Palestinian, two Americans, six Cambodians and 14 Singaporeans.
"Two more Malaysians were not involved in the evacuation as they are serving the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) in Abyei and their evacuation is being handled by the UN."
Earlier, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir told the New Straits Times that the evacuees endured a 30-hour journey to reach the port, where they would now be transported to a safe zone.
"We are considering all options, either by air or sea. We have been arranging this since the last 48 hours.
"We have been working tirelessly since the first day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri to sort this out.
"We'll opt for the next immediate available mode of transport to transfer them to the next country," Zambry said.
He added that the evacuees would be transported to either Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, or Cairo, Egypt, before being flown back to Malaysia.
He commended the leadership of Malaysian ambassador to Sudan Razdan Jamil and his team in Sudan for taking up the challenge of evacuating Malaysians to safety.
Yesterday, Zambry said the mission to rescue Malaysians trapped in Khartoum after clashes broke out were underway via a land route.
He described efforts to evacuate the Malaysians as entering "a critical phase" and said their location could not be disclosed due to security factors.