A bus evacuating stranded Nigerians from the capital of Sudan, Khartoum, to Port Sudan where they will move into Saudi Arabia caught fire early Monday.
It was testified that one of the bus’ tyres caught fire in the course of the journey.
According to reports, an eyewitness in Sudan named Sani Aliyu confirmed that all in the bus came out unharmed. He said:
“One of the buses conveying some 50 Nigerian students from Sudan with a tag number (Katsina 1) heading to Port Sudan as part of the second batch of FGN evacuation got damaged due to excessive heat from one of the vehicle’s tyres.
“Dr Hashim Idris Na’Allah, the chairman of the Nigerian Elders’ Forum in Sudan, was one of the passengers in the said bus, which contained a total of 50 students (49 males, 1 female).
“The incident happened around 2:30 am Sudan time.
“The driver stopped the bus near an RSF checkpoint, just before the tire exploded causing a fire to start.
“All the passengers escaped unhurt.
“Forty out of the 50 passengers were later distributed to the other buses evacuating the students, while the remaining passengers spent the night where the incident happened alongside the driver at the RSF checkpoint.
“The students said the RSF really did their possible best to help the passengers and offered them with cups of tea in the morning before they left.”
However, the incident has not stopped the journey completely as they have made a way to complete their trip.
Over 1,000 Nigerians are escaping the troubles of Sudan through the Port Sudan channel following the difficulties faced in getting the first batch of evacuees across the Egypt borders. And 26 buses conveying the stranded left from Al Razi around 12 AM on Monday for Port Sudan.
The Nigerian evacuees have spent 5 days at the Egyptian borders as officials denied them access into the country.
It has been reported too that there are flights already waiting to transport them to Nigeria.
