A COUPLE who travelled to Dubai to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary - and were left stranded for days with missiles and fighter jets flying overhead due to the Iranian and US-Israel conflict - have spoken of their relief after finally returning home.
The United States and Israel launched an attack against Iran’s leadership and military on Saturday, subsequently killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran began retaliatory attacks on Israel, Bahrain, Cyprus and the United Arab Emirates.
Bolton-upon-Dearne couple Ross and Sarah Barcy-Marsh, both 43, flew out to Dubai to celebrate their anniversary last Thursday - but nothing could have prepared them for the attacks that would ensue.
What should have been one of the happiest times of their lives has turned into a nightmare.
Ross, who spoke to the Chronicle from his hotel, said: “We flew out on Thursday from Manchester and we were planning to stay for five nights.
“We were really enjoying it.
“We planned to do some excursions every day and we’d noticed on the Friday there were loads of planes flying above.
“But on the Saturday there weren’t any.
“We went to the Global Village on Saturday night and then everyone from back home started texting and ringing me.
“I didn’t answer because I didn’t want to pay the charges but my dad asked me if I’d seen the news.
“He said that the Iranian Supreme Leader had died and they are retaliating - he said that a hotel in Dubai had been hit and to be careful.
“We shot back to the hotel and then everyone got a safety message on their phones with sirens - it was horrible.”
The message on Ross’ phone came through in Arabic but translated to ‘due to a possible missile threat, immediately seek shelter in the nearest safe building’.
Throughout the coming days, the couple stayed at the hotel but they were constantly hearing missiles and explosions near to the hotel - and while trying to relax around the pool they heard a huge explosion and a nearby building was well alight.
“Everyone was panicking,” he said.
“The police were telling us that we couldn’t leave on the Saturday.
“We went to bed at 2.30am and then we were woken up at 4am and 6am with massive explosions.
“On Sunday we were by the pool and then everyone started running over to the beach a building was on fire.
“There’s missiles and fighter jets just flying overhead.
“It’s put everyone on edge.
“One minute it’s calm and then there’s some huge explosions.
“You’ve got families grabbing their kids and no one knows where to go.
“It really is terrifying.”
The couple were due to fly home on Tuesday afternoon but were unable to do so.
More than 4,000 flights a day have been cancelled across the region, according to flight tracking service Flightradar24, with hundreds of thousands of passengers affected.
The disruption ‘will only increase the longer the crisis continues’ and it ‘will have enormous repercussions for the industry’, director of communications Ian Petchenik said.
The ongoing airline disruption comes as more than 100,000 Britons have registered their presence in the Middle East with the UK government.
After days of waiting, Ross and his wife were finally able to book on to a flight which left Dubai yesterday - and he says he knows just how lucky they are.
“We were told that our insurance is void because of the war,” he added.
“We were having to pay for our room on the credit card - it’s an expense we didn’t budget for.
“We just want to get home now.
“We’ve got two kids, aged six and nine.
“I hate flying but we just want to get home and out of here.
“We feel really bad for the people that are still stuck.
“There were people in front of us without tickets crying who were trying to get on the plane.
“We know we have been lucky because so many flights have already been cancelled.”
