Friends Hassan Tibwa and Sami al-Gada, aged 23 and 25, have saved UN officials, teachers and other people, who describe them as "heroes". According to records obtained by the New York Times, Hassan Tibwa and Sami al-Gada saved at least 60 people.

The two students in Khartoum, Sudan, when clashes between the armed forces in the struggle for power broke out last month.

The young people became friends on an engineering course until they were forced to lock themselves in their apartment on the streets of the Sudanese capital. Although they were students, Tibwa also drove a cab. In the early days of the uprising, the young man received an unexpected call - someone needed one.

It turned out that the 40-year-old woman was a United Nations (UN) worker who was in her apartment, already without water, and with less than 5% of battery left in her cell phone. "He was shouting," explained Tibwa, who is originally from Tanzania, to the New York Times. "We only had a few minutes before the phone went off. She was on her own," he said.

The friends decided to take a chance and walk through the city to the residential area. According to the New York Times, it took them an hour to cover just over six kilometers.

Between posts controlled by the Rapid Support Forces (FAR), which are fighting with the Sudanese army for control of the country, they saw buildings full of bullet holes, charred cars and fighters everywhere. The FAR questioned them and wiped their phones, but let them continue.

They found the woman, Patiente, alone in her apartment. She had been hiding in the bathroom for days, as the bullets had gone through her living room, which she showed them. According to what the friends explained to the American publication, they pretended that Patiente was pregnant and needed help, so that they could take her to the Al Salam, one of the most prestigious hotels in the Sudanese capital, which is now used to house people.

Once they were safe, Patiente asked them if they could repeat the feat and save some of their friends. According to messages collected by the New York Times, the youngsters saved at least 60 people - including teachers from South Africa, diplomats from Rwanda, and UN employees from various countries, including Kenya, Zimbabwe, Sweden and the United States.

The publication reports that ten passengers explained that the young people helped them in frightening and life-threatening moments, when the organizations with drivers and security guards weren't rescuing them.

"The only word for them is heroes," said a UN official, who, like most of these workers, spoke only on condition that he not be identified, in order to avoid criticizing the organizations to which they belong, since many have failed in the rescue missions of their employees.

Despite the dozens of rescues, there were moments when they feared for their lives because, at one of the posts, one of the fighters threatened to shoot a UN official coming from Malaysia. "The FAR fighter cocked his gun," said one of the witnesses in the car, who said he was shaking at the time. "When I heard that noise, I thought he was dead," he confessed.

In addition to the rescue trips, there were also trips for some people to get their passports in order to leave the country.

Fares Hadi, an Algerian who was in the hotel when the clashes began - and stayed there - said that the boys helped him recover the document. But it was once again at a checkpoint that the situation got complicated. Fighters found something suspicious on the cell phone of the youngest boy, Sami al-Gada, and suddenly he was surrounded by men pointing an AK-47, also known as a Kalashnikov, at him.

Hadi, who was in the back seat, expected the worst. "I was waiting for pieces of his brain to reach my face," he explained, adding that after 15 minutes of talking, the fighters retreated. "He was terrified," the man said, noting that the young man was "sweating all over".

"The courage of these boys is incredible," explained the Algerian. "So impressive, what courage," he told the New York Times.

All the people the American publication spoke to revealed that at no time did the young people ask to be paid for these rides, which ended up saving dozens of lives.

While al-Gada, who is Sudanese, remained in the country, Tibwa left for Ethiopia by bus on Wednesday. It is there that he will return home.

Source: New York Times