- By Shivangi Sharma
- Fri, 14 Nov 2025 07:39 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
A survivor of the reported massacre at the last functioning hospital in Sudan’s el-Fasher has delivered a harrowing account of death, despair, and unimaginable loss. Speaking from a displaced persons camp in Tawila, 70km west of el-Fasher, laboratory technician Abdu-Rabbu Ahmed told the BBC that he has been left shattered after fleeing Saudi Maternity Hospital, the site of what many describe as one of the most brutal attacks of the war.
“I have lost my colleagues,” Ahmed said quietly. “I have lost the people whose faces I used to see smiling… It feels as if you lost a big part of your body or your soul.”
When paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) entered el-Fasher in late October, after an 18-month siege, the hospital became a death trap. Ahmed and others were tending to the wounded, including his own father, a Sudanese army soldier.
Another survivor, Abderahmane, described the moment seven nurses were summoned into a room by RSF fighters. “We heard gunshots, and I saw blood seeping out from under the door,” he told AFP, his voice breaking. He fled with his father the same day, only for his father to die days later en route to Chad.
City Falls After 18 Months Of Siege
The RSF, which has been fighting the regular army since a power struggle erupted in April 2023, captured el-Fasher, the army’s last stronghold in Darfur, on October 26. The group’s roots trace back to the notorious Janjaweed militia, blamed for ethnic cleansing campaigns between 2003 and 2008 that killed an estimated 300,000 people and displaced nearly 2.7 million. Both the RSF and the Sudanese army have been accused of atrocities during the current conflict.
Civilians Describe Drone Attacks, Streets Filled With Bodies
At the Tine refugee camp in eastern Chad, 300km from the fallen city, escapees described days of relentless drone attacks before el-Fasher collapsed. Families huddled in makeshift shelters, surviving on “peanut shells,” said 53-year-old Hamid Souleymane Chogar.
“Every time I went up to get some air, I saw new corpses in the street, often those of local people I knew,” he recalled.
Chogar eventually fled under the cover of night, joining thousands now seeking safety across the border.
WHO ‘Appalled’ By Reports Of 460 Killings
One of the most shocking allegations is that at least 460 patients and their companions were killed inside the Saudi hospital. Some footage, reportedly filmed by RSF fighters, circulated on social media.
The World Health Organisation condemned the reports, saying it was “appalled and deeply shocked.” WHO also noted that six health workers, including doctors, a nurse, and a pharmacist, were abducted.
The RSF has denied the accusations, calling them “disinformation,” and released its own video showing volunteers aiding patients on hospital grounds. As survivors recount horrors, the humanitarian crisis deepens. For Ahmed, who fled with nothing but memories of the colleagues he lost, life feels irreparably broken. “It’s as if part of my soul stayed behind in that hospital,” he whispered.