The parents of a Mayo woman trapped in Khartoum, Sudan, with her husband and two children have called for urgent intervention to help the family flee the fighting.
Catherine and John McLoughlin had been told by the Department of Foreign Affairs that high-level meetings were taking place to consider evacuation at an opportune time.
This afternoon, it emerged that the Government has agreed to send up to 12 Defence Forces personnel to Sudan to assist Irish people there to leave the country.
Some 125 Irish citizens have registered with the Irish embassy in neighbouring Kenya.
John and Catherine McLoughlin live in a rural area outside Ballindine, Co Mayo. They keep their phones on 24/7 for news from their daughter Kathy.
Catherine says the family is heartbroken.
She says: "We can do nothing. We feel so helpless. The ceasefire hasn't materialised. Our little grandchildren are so traumatised. The family are in danger."
Kathy is head of an international school in Khartoum and has been living there for over ten years with her Sudanese husband, Dr Rami McAlgeed. They have two sons, 7-year-old Lochlan and 4-year-old Liam.
Kathy posted a video before the internet went down to highlight the plight of her family.
She sends audio files home of the heavy gunfire and shelling alongside stark images of the family under siege in the basement of the compound where they lived.
They spent five days and nights there before plucking up the courage to flee.
This blurry image shows the father and son attempting the dangerous journey out of the city during a pause in the fighting.
The family are now in a friend's apartment around 10km outside the city and say they feel a little safer but the shooting continues.
Kathy's mother becomes visibly tearful when she describes how close her son-in-law Rami came to being killed by soldiers.
"They decided to leave one evening at 6pm during a supposedly quiet time. The men went out first and Kathy was following with the boys.
"Then she looked over and saw soldiers had Rami and the other two men up against the wall with their hands up over their heads.
"So they were just about to be shot. Then Kathy started screaming and begged them not to shoot telling them 'we have no arms. We're no threat to you'."
Wiping away her tears, Catherine says the soldiers then laid down their guns but she says it could have been a very different story.
Kathy describes the terrifying journey that the family then made on foot.
"We've had a really terrible five days since last Saturday when the fighting broke up. After the soldiers let Rami and the others go, we walked for hours and hours, miles and miles and endured many more difficult and scary moments along the way.
"Now we're staying in a friend's house but it's not safe. There are still bombs going off nearby and we need to be evacuated as soon as possible. My husband Rami doesn't have an Irish passport and I do not want to leave him behind. We have to leave together. He is the father of my children."
John McLoughlin prays there will be a ceasefire soon.
He says: "Maybe a ceasefire will be called in the coming days and some officials will be able to travel out there safely and rescue the family and the other Irish citizens that are stuck. Kathy has a cool head and will focus all her attention on keeping her boys safe."
Catherine reinforces what she calls her daughter's "desperate cry for help".
She says: "She is not safe. She is now pleading with the Irish Government and the embassy to please, please get them out.
"Get all those people out. We want to see them coming into Dublin Airport, or maybe Knock and give them the biggest hug."
