‘It was scary to sleep’: Australians touch down after days stranded in Dubai

There were emotional reunions in the Sydney Airport arrivals hall Wednesday night as more than 200 Australians arrived home on the first commercial flight out of Dubai since war broke out between the US, Israel and Iran on Saturday.

Flight EK414 landed just before 10:30pm (AEDT) and was one of 60 commercial flights arranged by the United Arab Emirates to fly stranded passengers out through dedicated emergency air corridors.

It marked the end of several days of uncertainty following the closure of airspace over much of the Middle East and widespread flight cancellations.

Lucy Canyon was staying in Dubai for business when Iran’s retaliatory airstrikes hit the city.

Canyon told SBS News the experience was “obviously quite scary”.

“It was loud. You could definitely hear things. It was scary to sleep, but I did feel safe being in Dubai,”

“They were really working hard to keep everybody safe.”

Canyon said she was lucky to get a seat on the plane through her travel agent, although she was apprehensive as the flight took off.

“I think it was a little bit fearful at the start because you don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said.

“But I think once we got past that hour mark once you knew you were out of kind of the danger zone … you could feel the mood kind of like breathe and everyone clapped when we landed.”

Canyon’s aunt, uncle and cousin greeted her at the arrivals gate.

“I’m from the Gold Coast but I could only fly here. My mum’s on the phone just crying.”

Youssef Mardoud was among dozens waiting at the gates holding flowers and ‘welcome home’ balloons.

He burst into tears when he saw his mother Eman Krayem emerge from the arrival gates.

“My mum was travelling to see my grandpa in Lebanon … he has cancer,” Mardoud told SBS News.

“She was going through Dubai but when we heard the news it just went sideways … I was terrified and I just wanted like mum just come back home safe.”

“I didn’t want to feel that scenario of losing somebody that you love.”

Krayem was too emotional to speak but her other son Zafer said the family called it a “lucky flight”.

“We were just crying on the phones 24/7… It is just incredible having her back,” he said.

Many more stranded

Airlines were disrupted globally by Iranian regime bombings in nine countries in retaliation for weekend strikes by the US and Israel.

Airspace remains closed over Iran, Iraq and Israel.

Speaking on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the government is continuing to do “all that we can to get Australians home and keep Australians safe”.

Wong revealed there are 115,000 Australians in the region, with at least 24,000 located in Dubai.

This includes expats or people transiting through.

“This is a consular crisis that dwarfs any Australia … has had to deal with in terms of numbers of people,” she told ABC’s RN.

Wong announced six crisis centre teams will be deployed to help consular staff on the ground, undertaking massive repatriation efforts.

Speaking to her UAE counterpart earlier this week, Wong said she had asked for commercial flights to restart but highlighted that the ongoing attacks were making contingency plans “difficult”.

Following strikes in the region on Sunday, Smartraveller updated its advice, urging Australians not to travel to Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar or the United Arab Emirates.

It continues to advise Australians not to travel to Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Syria or Yemen.

A limited number of airlines have resumed operations for stuck travellers, with Wong stressing commercial flights were the best avenue to leave the region.

“That volume of traffic will really need to see commercial flights resume, even if only sporadically, to get people home,” she said.

The New Zealand government said it will send two Defence Force C-130J Hercules aircraft to the Middle East in case they are needed to return its citizens from the region.

The New Zealand government said there were about 3,000 New Zealanders registered as living in the Middle East.

Among those who flew home Wednesday were 16 students from Sydney’s Barker College who were en route to Türkiye for a robotics championship.

Barker College Principal Philip Heath was among the families anxiously waiting to welcome the students home.

“It’s been crazy and we’re overjoyed tonight,” Heath said.

“They had designed and built the robots and it was ready for competition, really brilliant concepts,”

“But we were interrupted in Dubai. So we’ve been holed up for the last few days desperate to get the students home.”

“I’m so grateful to the Australian government, to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to the embassy in the United Arab Emirates.”

“Emirates flew the aircraft and we asked for seats and we were fortunate enough to have them.

Heath said they’re conscious of the thousands more still stranded.

“Amongst the gratitude that we feel, we also have a deep sense of compassion for those affected.”

Nikita Xue was among the parents eager to welcome their children home.

“We have never experienced anything like this in our life.

“It’s really hard to describe, but we are so excited and just so grateful,” Xue said.

Her daughter Jacqueline Zhang was one of the students headed to Türkiye for the robotics championship.

“At the start we were kind of scared … but you just got used to the situation and just went with the flow,” Zhang said.

However, some Australians stressed the difficulty of securing the flight home.

Phillip Vins was on his way to Rome though Dubai when the conflict erupted.

He said it took him “230 phone calls” to get a seat on the first flight out of Dubai to Sydney.

“There were still explosions happening around 10pm as we actually got into the airport,” Vins said.

“Very tense, but a lot of happy people to actually finally leave.”

Mother Cherie Vins drove three hours from Port Stephens to pick up her son.

“I’m so relieved and I’m so happy to have him home,” said Vins.

Citizens of other countries also took the opportunity to leave the region.

Brendan Jamieson lives in Munich and said he jumped on the flight to Sydney while he had the chance.

“The flights were so limited and they were just getting cancelled all the time, so we took the first flight out”

“So, happy to be here but also happy to get home,” Jamieson said, who will fly to Germany via the US later this week.

With additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press.

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