RAF lays on extra flight for Britons trying to escape Sudan
A further Royal Air Force evacuation flight will be leaving from Port Sudan to help evacuate more British nationals requesting to leave the country.
British military personnel have been based in Sudan at Wadi Saeedna airfield evacuating British nationals after fighting erupted in the country's capital between the army and paramilitary forces.
The evacuation mission had come to a close on 29 April, but since then the Government has announced that British nationals wanting to leave the country should travel to the British Evacuation Handling Centre at Port Sudan International Airport as there is one extra flight departing.
The final evacuation flight will depart from the RAF's base at Akrotiri in Cyprus, then into Port Sudan, and back out to Larnaca airport.
Speaking about the extra flight, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: "I am grateful to our Armed Forces who have ensured there was an alternative to Wadi Saeedna and who are currently supporting FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) and Border Force staff to facilitate the rescue effort.
"HMS Lancaster and the RAF are also there in support of HMG."
British nationals who wish to leave Sudan on this flight are asked to travel to the British Evacuation Handling Centre at the Coral Hotel on 1 May before 1200hrs Sudan time.
RAF C-130 Hercules and A400M aircraft have been flying from RAF Akortiri in Cyprus to a Sudanese military base north of Khartoum to collect British nationals over the last week who have wanted to leave the war-torn country.
The government has said that 2,122 Brits have been evacuated across 23 flights, and the reason for no longer running evacuation flights from Wadi Saeedna airfield – where the British military was based – is because of a decline in demand by British nationals to leave the country.
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