Approximately 40 British civilians have arrived safely in Cyprus after being rescued from Sudan last night, a spokesperson for its foreign ministry said.

Three planes were due to have left conflict-torn Khartoum for Cyprus by Wednesday morning, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledging ‘many more’ would follow as he warned of a ‘critical’ 24 hours.

Around 260 people were expected to be flown out overnight on three flights, the first landing on Tuesday evening at Larnaca airport on Tuesday evening with around 40 people on board.

However the UK military is racing against time to evacuate all 4,000 British civilians still trapped in Sudan while the fragile 72-hour ceasefire holds. 

The evacuations come as The Times reports that an NHS doctor was shot in the leg during the conflict, but has refuses to leave without elderly mother – whose temporary visa request was rejected.

The Foreign Office backtracked on their earlier advice and urged all British passport holders and their immediate family members to make the perilous journey to the airfield to board evacuation flights.

There are fears that the government’s late decision to rescue civilians – after choosing to only rescue diplomats – is ‘too little, too late’ for Britons due to how dangerous it is to travel through the various checkpoints to the airfield. 

Rishi Sunak authorised the operation late on Monday night, Downing Street said, after he was accused of ‘abandoning’ thousands of civilians in the war-torn country. 

UK defence secretary Ben Wallace told Channel 4 news ‘we can take, really, who turns up at the moment’ – adding ‘there is some risk that some of the planes are not full’.

Mr Wallace said the UK would take charge of the Wadi Saeedna airstrip near the capital from German forces, after Berlin said its final evacuation flight would leave on Tuesday night.

He said 120 British troops have already been supporting the operation there.

The UK military could be ready to use force if needed to protect the air base in the event it comes under attack during the airlift, although the troops are primarily there to help with logistics, the i paper reported.

A UK-born student attempting to flee Sudan said she does not have enough petrol to make the dangerous one-hour drive from the outskirts of Khartoum to the airstrip. 

‘I’m trying to get there. But the problem is the vehicles that we have have no gas, and the petrol stations are empty,’ Samar Eltayeb, 20, from Birmingham, told the PA news agency.

‘There’ll be constant flights within the next few days, but if I can’t find gas to get there, then I’m stuck.’

Elizabeth Boughey, 61, told The Times she followed the initial advice and phoned up to out her name on the consulate list, but to no avail.

She and dozens of other international staff at Khartoum American School had to travel to the French embassy in the dead of night after hiding from heavy shelling and gun fire for a week.

While fellow staff member Alison Lethinen, a British-Finnish citizen, was shot in the foot by a stray bullet as she lay on the floor of her apartment. 

Staff claim she was ignored by UK officials but the Finnish embassy was in constant contact.

Sam Bodley-Scott, who has worked in Sudan for years, and seven other expatriates were forced to escape Khartoum for the Egyptian border after being robbed by RSF soldiers.

Sir Nicholas Kay, a former British ambassador to Sudan, warned the situation during the ceasefire remains ‘precarious’ and at any moment, the fighting between the warring military factions could start again – thwarting any plans of a safe evacuation.

And MP James Cleverly admitted that it is ‘impossible’ to know how long their window of opportunity for safe evacuations will last. 

Indeed, the sound of heavy gunfire and explosions filled the air in the capital of Khartoum and residents said warplanes were flying overhead. 

Sir Kay warned that moving around Khartoum could be ‘very difficult’, with the bridges crossing the Blue and White Nile rivers being controlled by the armed groups, while Conservative MP Alice Kearns said it is now ‘a race against time’ to get Britons out of Sudan.

Some Britons said they have already lost hope in the Government after the Foreign Office decided to only evacuate diplomats. They are now making the perilous journey to Port Sudan to try and evacuate by sea.

The Foreign Office said yesterday priority will be given to family groups with children, the elderly and individuals with medical conditions.

It said British nationals should not make their way to the airfield unless they are called, and warned the situation remained volatile, meaning the ability to conduct evacuations could change at short notice.

But this advice was removed this afternoon, and the Foreign Office urged British passport holders and their immediate family members to head to Wadi Saeedna airfield to the north of Khartoum to board evacuation flights.  

Other exit routes are being considered, with two UK Navy vessels having been prepared for a possible evacuation. 

Mr Cleverly said he had made contact with the leaders of the rival military factions in Sudan, calling on them to allow British nationals and dual nationals to be evacuated safely. 

But he admitted it was impossible to predict how long the window for the evacuation would remain open.

‘It is important to remember that ceasefires have been announced and have fallen apart in the past, so the situation remains dangerous, volatile and unpredictable,’ he said. 

He added: ‘We have said that we are unable to provide escorts from where British nationals are to the airhead, they will have to make their own way there – as indeed has been the case for the nationals of other countries.’