Alexandra Fouché
Live reporter

It's been another busy day reporting on events in Sudan.

Today's news has been dominated by the evacuations of British and other foreign nationals from around the country.

Earlier this evening, the first UK evacuation flight landed in Cyprus, carrying some 40 people on board, including babies and elderly passengers. Two more flights are planned overnight. You can read more on this story here.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended the government's management of the crisis as responding to evolving circumstances on the ground and said the next 24 hours are critical for getting Brits out.

Many African countries have also got their citizens out, but some Kenyan students told the BBC they received little help from their government.

Some residents in Khartoum are having to make the painful decision to stay or go.

Earlier, the World Health Organization warned of a "high risk of biological hazard" after a laboratory storing pathogens was seized.

At the moment, the shaky ceasefire seems to be holding, but there are concerns full-scale clashes between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces could resume at any moment.

Today's coverage was brought to you by our writers Adam Durbin, Wycliffe Muia, Gabriela Pomeroy, Laura Gozzi, Basillioh Rukanga, Natasha Booty, Lucy Fleming, Ece Goksedef, Malu Cursino, Tarik Habte, Aoife Walsh and our colleague from the video team Krystyna Gajda. The editors were Nathan Williams, Alexandra Fouché, Alys Davies, Sarah Fowler and Jamie Whitehead.

The BBC has spoken to a British woman who is currently travelling to reach the airfield to the north of Khartoum that the UK government is airlifting people to safety from.

Alaa Sanhouri, from Leeds, says she had less half an hour to get all of her things and get on the bus heading to the Wadi Seidna airfield, without even time to say goodbye to her family.

Audibly emotional and frightened, she tells the BBC's news channel this is the first time she has left her relative's home since the fighting broke out.

Sanhouri is currently on a privately hired bus heading to the evacuation point with nine other British citizens and is due to arrive in the next few hours.

But Sanhouri says they first must go through Khartoum to pick people up from one of the most dangerous areas of the city.

Catherine Byaruhanga
Reporting from Djibouti international airport

As we queued up at immigration after landing a Djibouti international airport, a crew of Swedish soldiers joined behind us.

They said they had arrived from the Maldives - likely joining the international efforts to rescue foreign citizens from Sudan.

Even though Djibouti is one of the smallest countries in Africa, its position right on the Red Sea makes it strategically important.

As I stand by the runway of the airport, I can see the glimmering lights from American and French military bases which have received fleeing diplomats and civilians from Sudan in the last few days.

A French military aircraft is parked on the civilian side because I’m told the base is too busy these days.

And the UK has not ruled out using its allies’ facilities here in the coming days to pull out its citizens from Khartoum.

Badariyya Tijjani Kalarawi
BBC Hausa, Abuja

My daughter is a student at Sudan International University in Khartoum - but thankfully she had come home to Nigeria before the Eid holidays so was not there when the fighting broke out.

But my own relief was overshadowed as the clashes escalated and we got a true picture of events from other relatives and friends - I have family across Sudan.

My daughter was first to hear of the fighting, waking me up at 05:00 GMT on the day it began. I then started receiving phone calls, text messages and WhatsApp voice recordings of the situation on ground.

Some of my relatives were at the airport on their way to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage when it started. They had even boarded the flight, but were forced to disembark and the plane was set ablaze by one of the factions.

Stranded at the airport with little food and water to break their fast during Ramadan, they were left terrified and confused.

As we spoke over the phone, I heard the terrifying sound of bombs and gunshots in the background.

Thankfully they all managed to leave the airport and after sheltering for a couple of days with friends, they have now left the country for Ethiopia - helped by holding diplomatic passports.

But I have barely slept for more than four hours at a time since fighting broke out as other Nigerians are still in the country and many know that I work with the BBC.

Somehow they have found my phone number, some of them students through my daughter, and they have been calling to cry for help to be evacuated - something the Nigerian government says it is endeavouring to do.

Insaf Abbas
BBC News

As the British evacuation process gets under way, many families around the UK are anxiously awaiting news of their relatives.

Muammar Ali, in Bristol, is trying to get his wife Madiha Hamid and their three children - including a newborn girl he’s yet to meet - out of Sudan.

He says he feels they are being ignored.

"I called the emergency contact number, but they just asked me whether I registered my family's presence in Sudan or not, which I told them I did.

"They said they will contact me within 24 hours so I just keep my phone next to me and keep an eye on it."

Image source, Muammar Ali

Sherine Elsheikh's husband is in one of the worst-hit areas in Khartoum - and she's concerned about how he would make the trip to the airfield to be evacuated.

"He said he's sitting inside the house. He can't go outside.

"He can't sleep at night because of the noise of the bombs and people being killed around him."

BBC Focus on Africa radio

Image source, Getty Images

People were able to move around Khartoum for the first few hours of this morning, but heavy gunfire broke out in two areas of the city later in the day.

Journalist Mohammed Alamin, viewing things from atop a tall building, told BBC Focus on Africa radio, that the fighting was in Omdurman (Khartoum's twin city) to the west and Bahri to the north.

A resident of the city told the programme that water had been restored in some areas and that the internet was also partially working.

But even though the banking system had come back online - allowing some to go out and buy things or leave the city - many were still too scared to leave their homes, he said.

The US is continuing to speak with military leaders from both sides of the conflict to support a durable ceasefire in Sudan, the White House has said.

President Joe Biden's press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, told reporters at a news briefing that the US was working with partners and Sudanese civilian groups towards a permanent ceasefire and improved humanitarian arrangements

Social media video shows the extent of the damage on the ground in northern Khartoum, where fighting broke out 10 days ago. Hundreds have been killed in the violence.

The BBC has verified the location of the video, but not the date it was filmed.

This video has no sound

Many other countries have been continuing to take their citizens out of Sudan using ports, airports and buses for a third day today. Take a look at the pictures below.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Thailand Ministry of Foreign Affairs/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Image source, SOUTH KOREA PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Image source, Reuters

Caroline Hawley
BBC News

I'm told that the 39 people on board the first evacuation flight range in age from babies to people over 70.

Caroline Hawley
BBC News

There were 39 people on board the first evacuation flight of civilians from Khartoum, the BBC understands.

Earlier, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said "the next 24 hours are absolutely critical" in the evacuation of British nationals from Sudan.

Speaking at the UK foreign office's crisis hub in central London, he thanked the civil servants working on getting people out and said their "efforts are really, really helping, making a huge difference".

Africa minister Andrew Mitchell, who met Sunak in the crisis hub alongside Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, told the prime minister 200 people were working on the extraction efforts day and night.

Image source, Getty Images

Caroline Hawley
BBC News

The first flight out of Khartoum has now landed at Larnaca airport in Cyprus, British officials say.

In all, 260 people are expected to be brought out overnight – on three separate flights. The first evacuees will spend the night in Larnaca.

Teklemariam Bekit
BBC News Tigrinya

Eritreans fleeing fighting in Khartoum have told the BBC they are being forced back home against their will.

Nearly 126,000 Eritrean asylum seekers and refugees live in Sudan, most having escaped political persecution and compulsory military service

An Eritrean woman who was heading by bus to Kassala says she never made it to the city in eastern Sudan, which is about 415km (260 miles) from Khartoum and where there is a large Eritrean community.

She told the BBC her bus was stopped on Monday at a security checkpoint before Kassala and all Sudanese passengers were forced to disembark.

Image source, Getty Images

The Eritreans on board were then transported without their consent to the town of Arbata-Asher on the Sudan-Eritrea border, she says. There, officials are taking her details and insisting she cross the border into Eritrea, a one-party state and a highly militarised society.

This account has been backed up by others.

An Eritrean living in the UK said his younger sister, who had been in Sudan awaiting her asylum papers to move to Canada, was among them.

Many Eritreans in Khartoum are there without the correct paperwork and are now fearful for their future.

Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter

Image source, Wathig Ali

I've been talking to Wathig Ali, a British citizen in Khartoum, who is making preparations for the dangerous journey to the airport to try to catch an RAF evacuation flight with his six-year-old child and pregnant wife.

“We only found out last night about the RAF flights. I am planning to go to the airport in the next day or so.

"The airport is only a one-hour drive away from our house, but I am struggling to find someone who will take us. We had someone who promised to take us today, but that fell through. So I’m still trying to find transport.

"I know I am taking a risk going on the journey with my child and my pregnant wife. Our worst fear is the bombing and the checkpoints on the way to the airport. We have been stuck indoors for days. Our house is surrounded by RSF soldiers. Some of them are nice, but some are extremely hostile. It is even hard to just be on your doorstep.

"Another problem is it’s so hard to find petrol. I have also run out of cash and we can’t access the bank. I have tried the British embassy multiple times, but we keep getting the same message.

"I also feel guilty about leaving my elderly mother. She is here too and I want to get her to the airport too. She does not have a British passport but I want to try and get her out with us.”

More from the interview with Rishi Sunak now, who says the first flight taking British citizens out of Sudan was carrying everyone who had travelled to the Khartoum airfield and was eligible for evacuation.

Asked whether a lack of clarity in the UK's response could lead to empty seats on planes, the prime minister says: "It's exactly because we want to make sure that our evacuations are happening in an effective and safe manner that we decide how best to call people forward."

He says this "evolves depending on the situation on the ground" and people are being contacted both directly and through a general call.

Sunak also says he is not able to guarantee the long-term safety of the air route being used, given the volatility of the ceasefire.

But he did tell broadcasters that other options were being considered.

Sunak also says the government is working with allies to try to secure a more "sustained ceasefire" and restore civilian government in Sudan, which he says is the "best solution to avoid more humanitarian impact".

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has defended the UK government's approach to getting British citizens out of Sudan, following criticism that the Foreign Office is failing those stuck in Khartoum.

Speaking to broadcasters a little while ago, he also says there will be "many more" flights out of Sudan this evening and into tomorrow.

Asked about the accusations of failing to help UK citizens, the prime minister says he is "pleased that we were actually one of the first countries to safely evacuate our diplomats and our families".

He adds it is right that diplomats and their relatives were prioritised "because they were being targeted".

Confirming the UK has more than 100 people on the ground in Sudan as it stands, Sunak says there will be "more flights this evening and we'll have many more into tomorrow".

He says more than 1,000 people have been contacted and many are making their way to the airfield.

Natasha Booty
BBC News

Kenyan students say their government is taking undue credit for helping them to escape Sudan when in many cases it is they themselves who have plotted and paid their way to safety.

A tweet by an official saying Kenyan diplomats had "facilitated" a group of almost 30 students to reach Ethiopia has caused upset.

Image source, roselinenjogu/ Twitter

Speaking to the BBC anonymously, one of the students pictured in the tweet above says they paid $300 (£240) out of their own pocket to get from Khartoum across the Ethiopian border to Gondar.

It was only when the students presented themselves to the Kenyan embassy in Gondar that they received assistance.

On their way, they say they had no choice, but to pay bribes to Sudanese policemen and "managed to escape the [paramilitary] Rapid Support Forces along the road amid criminals on the move".

"Honestly it wasn't easy... We didn't eat for two days - the focus was on running for our dear lives. I'm glad that I took the risk to escape the war zone, but I feel sad and let down by the embassy [in Khartoum] because I thought it would have our backs in such a crisis."

The BBC has contacted Kenya's Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs for comment.

A member of staff there says Kenyan citizens trapped in Sudan should contact its emergency hotlines on +249 900 19 48 54 or +254 114 75 70 02.

Caroline Hawley
BBC News

I've been told that the first evacuation flight will arrive in Larnaca at 18:30 BST - with two more coming in overnight.

Around 250 people are expected to be on board those three flights, and they're due to be flown back to the UK from Cyprus on charter planes.

Those flights, I've been told, have yet to be arranged.

• The first flight evacuating British nationals from Sudan has left the country with a Downing Street spokesperson adding that more flights are being planned
• The UK government has now instructed all British passport holders and their families to head straight to an airfield north of the capital, Khartoum, in a change to earlier guidance. The Foreign Office had previously asked nationals to wait to be contacted
• It follows criticism from Brits stuck in Sudan who say they feel abandoned while other foreign nationals and embassy staff were flown out
• At the time of reporting, the shaky ceasefire seems to be holding, but there are concerns that may not be the case for much longer. Earlier, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly described the truce as "volatile"
• The EU and many African countries have already airlifted many of their citizens out of Sudan, but some Kenyan students stuck in Khartoum say they are desperate for help