• The minister of state for emigration and Egyptian expatriate affairs said citizens were being evacuated following the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi

Gobran Mohammed

CAIRO: Egypt evacuated 446 nationals and 189 others, including a Sudanese citizen in critical condition, from Sudan by road on Tuesday.

Ahmed Abu Zeid, a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry, said the Egyptian embassy in Khartoum, consulates in Khartoum and Port Sudan, and consular office in Wadi Halfa continued efforts around the clock to evacuate Egyptians. So far, 1,539 have been evacuated from Sudan.

Efforts were underway to evacuate a number of Egyptians and their families from an airport near Khartoum as soon as the security situation improved, he added.

Soha Gendi, minister of state for emigration and Egyptian expatriate affairs, said citizens were being evacuated following the directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

The process was being supervised by a national committee composed of all relevant agencies and institutions of the state in order to ensure the safety of citizens, Gendi added.

She appealed to the Egyptians stuck in Sudan to reach ports and airports, in coordination with the consulates in Port Sudan and the Wadi Halfa office, in preparation for their evacuation.

The General Authority for Land and Dry Ports affiliated with the Ministry of Transport is providing all facilities for Egyptians and other nationalities returning through the Qastal and Arqin border points, sources said.

Egyptian Red Crescent outlets have been opened at the two ports with a number of ambulances. There is coordination between all agencies working at the ports to accommodate the surging number of returnees of various nationalities, they said.

The Transport Ministry said that those without money had been made exempt from access fees.

Foreign countries with embassies in Egypt — notably China and Hungary — have coordinated with Egypt’s Foreign Ministry to receive their citizens.

All facilities were provided to the first group of Chinese nationals upon their arrival at the Qastal land port, according to a Transport Ministry statement.

The Foreign Ministry has offered condolences to the family of Mohamed El-Gharawi, assistant to the administrative attache at the Egyptian Embassy in Khartoum, who was killed on Monday while traveling to the embassy to follow up on evacuation procedures.

The ministry said that the Egyptian mission in Sudan would continue fulfilling its responsibility of evacuating people and ensuring their safe return to Egypt.