UNICEF says 300 trapped children rescued from a Sudanese orphanage after 71 others died

By SAMY MAGDY
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — The UN children’s agency says about 300 children have been rescued from an orphanage in Sudan’s capital after being trapped there while fighting raged outside. UNICEF’s announcement Thursday came after 71 children died from hunger and illness at the Al-Mayqoma orphanage since April. The agency says around 300 children at the Al-Mayqoma orphanage in Khartoum were transferred to a “safer location” elsewhere in Sudan. Nazim Sirag, an activist who heads the local charity Hadhreen, said they were ferried late Tuesday to a newly established facility in Madani, the capital city of Jazira province, about 135 kilometers (85 miles) southeast of Khartoum.