Khartoum, July 5 : At least 25 people drowned while fleeing the ongoing military clashes in the Sinnar State in central Sudan after their wooden boat capsized, local resistance committees announced.

"As the RSF (Rapid Support Forces) entered the area, at least 25 citizens, most of them women and children, died in a boat sinking accident east of Abu Hujar city, between the Al-Dibaiba and Luni villages," the resistance committees in Sinnar said in a statement on Thursday.

The victims included entire families from the Al-Dibaiba village, reports Xinhua news agency, citing the statement, Xinhua news agency reported.

Over 55,400 people have fled Singa, the capital city of Sinnar state, since the clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary RSF expanded in June, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The Sudan conflict, which broke out in mid-April 2023, has led to at least 16,650 deaths, reported the OCHA in a June report.

Over 7.7 million people have been displaced internally within Sudan since the outbreak of the conflict, while about 2.2 million others have crossed borders into neighbouring countries, according to the figures released on June 25 by the UN International Organization for Migration.

/IANS