Stuck without food, water: Wife of Kerala man killed in Sudan seeks MEA help
In tears, Saibella Augustine made a desperate plea to the external affairs ministry and embassy officials to save them.
The wife of the Kerala security officer, Albert Augustine, killed during violence in Sudan last week reached out for help via a video message, saying that she and her daughter are stuck in their apartment basement in Khartoum without any food or water.
In tears, Saibella Augustine made a desperate plea to the external affairs ministry and embassy officials to save them.
She said, most stranded foreign nationals in their apartment have been evacuated and pleaded with authorities to save them before the condition worsened.
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Her husband, Albert, was killed last Sunday after a stray bullet hit him while he had opened a windowpane in their apartment to talk to his son who is studying in the United Kingdom. His family was with him when the incident took place.
“We have been hearing about our evacuation for many days, but nothing has happened so far. We are going through a terrible time. Our food and water stocks have been depleted. We desperately need help,” she said in her video message.
Saudi Arabia had helped evacuate many foreign nationals and the external affairs minister should seek the country’s assistance to evacuate them, said her relatives.
Read | ‘Bring back my husband’: Woman's appeal to PM Modi amid strife in Sudan
“We need immediate help otherwise the lives of the two will be in danger,” said one of her relatives in Kannur (north Kerala).
Saudi Arabia on Saturday said it successfully evacuated 159 people – including 91 Saudi nationals and citizens of other countries.
Though the MEA had assured Augustine’s relatives that his family would be brought back safely, and his body sent home, the ongoing violence has made the transfer difficult, the officials had told the relatives two days ago.
The fierce fighting between Sudan’s military and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Force has paralysed many airports of the country, reports from Sudan said.
After the fighting aggravated, the Embassy in Sudan issued an advisory to Indians, asking them “to take extreme precautions and stop venturing out of their houses.”
Around 4,000 Indians are believed to be working in the African country.
