Attack on Ambulance in North Darfur Kills Medical Escort

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Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Sunday expressed its condemnation and shock over the killing of a patient escort following an attack on one of its ambulances while transporting a patient from Zamzam IDP camp to the Saudi Hospital in El Fasher.

In a statement on Sunday, MSF said:
"On January 10, an MSF ambulance was fired upon in El Fasher, North Darfur, by an unidentified gunman while transporting a woman in labor who required emergency surgery from MSFs field hospital in Zamzam camp to the Saudi Hospital in El Fasher."

The organization added:
"One of the patient’s caregivers sustained fatal gunshot wounds and died after the team eventually reached the Saudi Hospital."

Michel-Olivier Lacharité, Head of Emergency Operations at MSF, stated:
"We are horrified by this deadly attack on humanitarian staff carrying out life-saving medical work where it is most needed. Our priority is to support those affected by the attack, who are clearly traumatized."

He added:
"We also need to engage with all armed groups active in the area to understand what happened and to secure guarantees that patients, medical staff, ambulances, and health facilities will be respected so that we can continue our work."

This is the second attack on an MSF ambulance in less than a month in El Fasher. On December 27, an MSF ambulance was shot at while transferring patients from Zamzam camp to the Saudi Hospital, but no one was harmed in that incident.