Three Egyptian military planes carrying 42 tonnes of food, medical supplies and medicine arrived in Khartoum on Tuesday in the wake of deadly flooding that has killed dozens of people in the country.

This is the largest humanitarian shipment Egypt has sent since the beginning of the crisis in Sudan, Egyptian Chargé d’Affaires to Sudan Nader Zaki was quoted as saying by Sudanese news agency SUNA.

The shipment is part of Egypt’s ongoing aid airlift operation to Sudan, launched upon the directive of President Abdel-Fattah El Sisi to help the Sudanese people deal with the natural disaster.

Egypt has sent Sudan over 80 tonnes of humanitarian aid so far, Zaki said, adding that this amount is less than half of the total amount scheduled to be sent.

Zaki said that the airlift will continue to operate daily during the coming period in order to contribute to alleviating the impact of the floods and to help the people of Sudan to overcome the crisis.

Abbas Fadlallah, the head of Sudan’s Humanitarian Aid Commission, thanked El-Sisi, as well as the government of Egypt and the country’s embassy, for providing assistance. He said he considers the airlift a reflection of the strong relations between the Egyptian and Sudanese people.

On Saturday, the Sudanese authorities declared a national state of emergency for three months due to the deadly floods.

In addition, Egyptian Health Minister Hala Zayed travelled to Sudan on Tuesday to help the Sudanese people to overcome the repercussions of the floods, ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said.

The minister was accompanied by a 20-strong team of doctors with different specialisms, as well as a number of nurses and experts in epidemic control.