One of the buses ferrying Nigerian students who have been stranded in war torn Sudan has caught fire on Monday.
The bus was one of those moving students to Port Sudan ahead of their crossing to Saudi Arabia to escape the war in Sudan.
Twenty-six buses conveying the stranded Nigerians left Al Razi around 12:am on Monday for Port Sudan.
“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).
NPO Reports gathered that the incident happened around 2:30am 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 best to help the passengers and offered them with cups of tea in the morning before they left,” Sani Aliyu who is in Sudan disclosed.
The war in Sudan has seen many countries evacuating their nationals to safety.
Nigeria has evacuated many of the students while others are awaiting their time.
No fewer than 500 persons have been killed while several hundreds have been injured in the two weeks old armed conflict.