Evacuation plane landed safely in Sudan despite gunfire: Türkiye

KAYSERI, Ankara (AA) – A Turkish military plane evacuating citizens from Sudan landed safely at an airport despite gunfire, Türkiye’s national defense minister confirmed.

“As part of plans to evacuate our citizens, one of our C-130 aircraft landed at Wadi Seidna Airport, north of (the capital) Khartoum. There was gunfire from light arms during the landing of our second plane. Despite this, our plane landed safely,” Hulusi Akar told reporters in the Kayseri province.

There were no casualties, he stressed.

Akar said a Turkish team inspected the damage to the plane, adding: “According to a preliminary assessment, we do not believe there is major damage. We believe we can repair it by teams we send from here. The exact situation will be clarified with an upcoming report.”

Türkiye on Thursday deployed five military transport planes, including two A400M aircraft, to evacuate its remaining citizens from conflict-torn Sudan.

Earlier Friday, the Turkish National Defense  Ministry announced that a Turkish C-130 evacuation plane headed to Wadi Seidna Air Base for evacuation came under small arms fire.

The first group of Turkish citizens was safely brought to Türkiye by planes belonging to the Turkish Armed Forces early Friday.

On evacuation efforts from the Port of Sudan, Akar said: “One of our planes got our citizens back from there. Our other A400M aircraft continues working for the evacuation of our citizens there. Hopefully it will leave there safely.”

Evacuation efforts will continue until all Turkish citizens are transported out of Sudan, he said, adding: “We’re following the process closely.”