All passengers and crew on Saudi Arabian Airways flight SV 458 are protected. A hero flight crew evacuated passengers throughout heavy gunfire.

Saudi Arabian Airline Flight SV458 was scheduled to take off Saturday morning at 9.30 am from Khartoum, Sudan Worldwide Airport, for a flight to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

On the identical time, heavy preventing between Sudan’s military and the Speedy Help Forces (RSF) paramilitary group erupted with gunfire heard in a number of components of Khartoum, in addition to in adjoining cities.

The plane got here beneath heavy gun hearth with passengers on board ready to push again to the runway.

The crew confronted with this downside reacted instantly and evacuated its passengers on this life and dying scenario.

The brand new Airbus A330-300, operated by the Saudi Arabian flag Service Saudia was closely broken.

A Ukrainian SkyUp Boeing 737-800 was additionally destroyed.

One other Saudia flight, #SV451 (HZ-AQ29), was near touchdown in Khartoum however circled on target again to Jeddah whereas approaching the runway in Khartoum.

A Turkish Airways airplane flying from Istanbul to Kigali, circled and landed in Jeddah to keep away from Sudan airspace. The airspace over Sudan was closed shortly after that.

The best way Saudi Arabian Airways dealt with this safety menace in the present day is nothing in need of a heroic response by the effectively skilled Saudia crew and Saudi Arabian safety officers.

Whereas the airplane was destroyed within the shock assault, all passengers have been evacuated and are presently cared for. They’re protected and sound within the Saudi Arabian Embassy within the Sudan capital.

Saudi Arabian Airways locations the security of its friends and crew as its highest precedence.

Saudi Arabian Airways is Licensed as a 4-Star Airline for the standard of its airport, onboard product,s and workers service. 

Saudia informed media earlier, that certainly one of its Airbus plane “had an accident” at Sudan’s Khartoum airport earlier than its scheduled departure to Riyadh on Saturday.

Later the airline launched an announcement saying it had moved its passengers, crew, and workers from the airport to the Saudi Embassy in Khartoum, and had suspended all flights to and from Sudan till additional discover.

Clashes between Sudan’s military and the Speedy Help Forces (RSF) paramilitary group erupted on Saturday, with gunfire heard in a number of components of Khartoum and witnesses reporting taking pictures in adjoining cities. Combating is constant.

Official counts from Sudan confirmed 56 individuals died and 600 extra have been wounded within the ongoing clashes.

The paramilitaries mentioned they have been accountable for the presidential place, Khartoum airport, and different important services.

The military denied the claims in an announcement late Saturday.

The Sudanese air pressure urged individuals to remain indoors because it continued air strikes in opposition to bases of the paramilitary Speedy Help Forces (RSF).

An eTurboNews reader in Khartoum who didn’t wish to be recognized mentioned he had by no means seen something prefer it. He confirmed darkish smoke hanging over the capital. Folks have been escaping to their properties when the fireplace broke out.