British woman describes her family's 'terrifying' dash for Sudan escape amid hail of bullets
27 April 2023, 14:55
A British woman has described escaping from Sudan in a hail of bullets as she and her husband rushed to an RAF flight.
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Jennifer McLellan, her husband Mohamed and their children fled from Khartoum, where they had lived for 15 years on Tuesday after the ceasefire was announced on Monday.
They were making their way through the city to the airport when their tyre burst, and had to pay a passing bus driver more than £300 to take them on.
Read more: UK government has put out 'misinformation' regarding Sudan evacuations, escapee says
But as they drove, they were caught up in a gun battle
"We were terrified," Ms McLellan, an English teacher, told the Telegraph.
"There had been some sort of bombing nearby and the Rapid Forces were fleeing - and as they were fleeing they were shooting.
"The driver did the only thing he could: he floored it.
"The driver put his foot down and we were going so fast we got to the bridge on the wrong side."
They eventually made it to the airport, where Ms McLellan and her family flew on to Cyprus ahead of a return to the UK.
The 72-hour ceasefire between the two warring factions in Sudan is set to end tonight, with Foreign secretary James Cleverly warning it would be "potentially impossible" to get British citizens out of the country once fighting resumed.
As of late last night, 536 Britons had been evacuated from the country on special evacuation flights from an airfield north of the capital Khartoum.
Mr Cleverly told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast on LBC today: "The ceasefire is scheduled to end late tonight. We have aircraft in the air taking people out of Sudan as we speak.
"Whilst there is much uncertainty, what we do know is we have capacity at the moment."
Nick Ferrari grills Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Sudan evacuations
But he said after the ceasefire ends during a ‘non-permissive environment’ it would be “much, much, much harder - potentially impossible” to get people out.
"It is impossible to say with any certainty what the environment would be like” once the ceasefire ends, he said.
Challenged whether British staff had 'cut and run,' Mr Cleverley said "we removed diplomats that were in direct danger and we replaced them with diplomats who had specific hostile environment training who are on the ground in Sudan supporting British nationals with the evacuation."
Military chiefs said at least 500 people a day can be rescued from an airfield near the capital Khartoum, amid fears bloody clashes will resume when the fragile truce between the warring factions ends.
British nationals arrive in Cyprus after being evacuated from Sudan
More than 530 people had been airlifted to safety on six flights as of 9pm on Wednesday, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said.
The first plane carrying UK citizens touched down on British soil earlier in the day, having left Larnaca in Cyprus, where they were initially evacuated.
More than 2,000 British nationals in Sudan have registered with the FCDO under evacuation plans, but thousands more could be in the war-torn nation.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was told by military chiefs that flights can continue "for as long as we need to" even if the US-brokered pause in fighting breaks.
