212 Thais, 3 foreign spouses leave Sudan to board RTA plane in Jeddah

Ratchada Dhnadirek, a deputy government spokesperson, said the evacuees arrived at Port Sudan on Tuesday and will be taken by boat to the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, where they will wait for a

Royal Thai Airforce (RTA) plane back home.

Ratchada said RTA has received Saudi Arabia’s permission to land and pick up evacuees in Jeddah on Tuesday night. She said the RTA plane will return to Bangkok on the same night.

The 212 Thai nationals had registered with the Foreign Ministry for evacuation after fighting erupted in Sudan. Three Thais will return with their legal foreign spouses.

They left the Sudanese capital on Monday afternoon.

Fighting kicked off on April 11 when two rival factions of the Sudanese military began clashing for control of the capital.

The fighting, concentrated in the twin cities of Omdurman and Khartoum North, has displaced tens of thousands of people.

So far, some 420 people, including 264 civilians, have been killed and 3,700 others injured.

Ratchada said once the evacuees arrive in Bangkok, the Southern Border Provinces Administration Centre will oversee their transport to their hometowns in the South of Thailand.