Palace: PH evacuates 409 Filipinos from strife-torn Sudan

AT least 409 Filipinos from conflict-torn Sudan have been safely evacuated and are currently in "safe zones" amid the 72-hour ceasefire there, Malacañang said Thursday. In a statement, Presidential Communications Secretary Cheloy Garafil said that of the 409 Filipinos, some 335 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and family members left Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, on Wednesday, April 26, for Egypt via Wadi Halfa Highway. "Another 35 OFWs and 15 students were safely evacuated to Egypt with the help of Filipinos in Sudan as well as personnel from the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW)," Garafil said. DMW Secretary Susan Ople and Undersecretary Hans Leo Cacdac are currently in Cairo, Egypt, to assist in the government's evacuation efforts and lead the distribution of welfare assistance to the affected OFWs, she added.

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