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The UK government has announced extra evacuation flights to rescue British nationals stranded in Sudan.
“Additional flights will depart from Port Sudan on 3 May”, the UK government confirmed in a statement issued via Twitter on Tuesday evening.
“British nationals still wishing to leave the country should go to the Coral Hotel in Port Sudan by 10:00 Sudan time tomorrow.
“No further flights will leave from Port Sudan.”
Any Britons left in Sudan have been told to leave through Port Sudan on the country’s east coast, which has become a hub for several foreign countries organising evacuations, or via land borders into neighbouring countries.
Those looking to flee the war-torn nation were previously told by the Foreign Office that they had until 11am on Monday (1 May) to reach the city to be within a chance of boarding one of two flights.
According to flight tracking websites, a Hercules plane left the airport at 6.43pm local time on Monday. An Airbus Atlas aircraft was scheduled to depart at 10.10pm local time.
Tens of thousands have fled or been evacuated from the African nation since fighting erupted three weeks ago, turning the capital Khartoum and a neighbouring city, Omdurman, into a battlefield.
Sudan’s military, led by General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, is fighting a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, both of whom have powerful foreign backers.
More follows…