From hearing bombs and anti-aircraft fire while hiding in a basement to a harrowing drive between rival checkpoints on their way to be evacuated, Perth residents say their escape from Sudan was terrifying.
Ahmed Shabo and his wife, who are now safely back in Perth, had travelled to Sudan to introduce their 11-month-old daughter to her grandparents.
They had not predicted they would spend much of the trip taking shelter from a violent conflict that has killed hundreds of people and injured thousands.
"We could hear the air strikes that were happening next to us and we could hear the gunshots and explosions very clearly and loud as well," Mr Shabo said.
The United Nations has warned 800,000 people may flee Sudan to escape the conflict between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which began on April 15.
Mr Shabo and his family, from Perth, were among more than 150 people who were flown home to safety in Australia by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Mr Shabo was last week evacuated by military plane via Doha with his wife and daughter.
They had endured a harrowing 60-kilometre journey to the airfield, during which they passed through at least 12 paramilitary and army checkpoints.
Evacuation via government plane was their only option after the airspace was shut down to commercial planes.
"We were really scared about taking the route to the … airfield, the point where we had to depart Sudan," Mr Shabo said.
"There was a lot of risk associated with that because … we had to cross different territories — some of them controlled by paramilitary and some of them controlled by the military."
The family also had to pass through contested territories where fighting was still underway.
Mr Shabo said his fear was that their vehicle would be stopped on the way to the airfield.
"Your car, your belongings, and everything can be taken away from you," he said.
"You can get robbed easily or killed on the way … so we were quite scared."
Mr Shabo said his parents had since fled Khartoum to the northern state of Sudan, where there was no fighting.
He said there was a deepening humanitarian crisis in Sudan as hospitals in affected areas were unable to operate at full capacity and communities faced shortages of food and safe drinking water.
"Even if you're safe from the war itself, even if you don't get killed by a bullet, you're still not safe because of the other issues there," Mr Shabo said.
"And I'm just also concerned about the poor people over there."
Fighting breaks out
For Cameron Edinger-Reeve and his wife, Amelia, what started as a normal day was interrupted suddenly by the sounds of violence.
"We were just having breakfast looking over the Blue Nile and I heard something and I knew exactly what that sound was," Mr Edinger-Reeve told ABC Radio Perth host Jo Trilling.
"And within about 10 minutes we could hear heavy weapons fire, explosions."
Mr Edinger-Reeve said the fighting in Khartoum was less than a kilometre from their home.
He and the owner of the building retreated to the basement but heard munitions hitting the above-ground structure.
They were on the edge of the conflict but could hear the sounds of anti-aircraft fire and bombing.
"When we looked out the window you can see helicopters and planes and all sorts of things," Mr Edinger-Reeve said.
"It was quite terrifying."
Mr Edinger-Reeve and his wife, who had been in Sudan for about three months when the conflict began, remained in the building for about a week before they were evacuated by the Australian government to Berlin.
They tried to avoid conflict areas as they travelled to the airfield.
They used borrowed fuel to power their vehicle.
"Unfortunately, the Sudanese friends and colleagues we have are either still trapped in their homes or they've evacuated somewhere," Mr Edinger-Reeve said.
"So we were lucky that we got out.
"Unfortunately the Sudanese who remain — they're in a very, very difficult situation."
Violence in the capital of Khartoum has continued despite a supposed ceasefire.
More than 100 Australians were still registered as being in Sudan as of Tuesday morning.
About 73,000 people have already fled to seven of Sudan's neighbouring countries, according to the United Nations.
