Woman stuck in Qatar 'wakes to sound of missiles'

A woman who has been stranded in Doha after her onward flight was cancelled said she has been "waking up to the sound of missiles" and has no clear pathway to get home.

Faye Morton, from Horsforth, Leeds, was travelling to Seoul, South Korea and had arranged a stop-over in Qatar but has been forced to stay in her hotel since she arrived on Saturday.

Morton said she has spent most of her time crying in her room, where she could hear missiles: "I'm struggling, I'm not going to lie".

The first flight chartered by the UK government to transport Britons stranded in the Middle East home has now departed, while Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said more flights are due to leave later on Thursday.

Morton is one of thousands of British nationals in the Middle East affected by the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday which prompted retaliatory strikes by Iran across the region.

More than 130,000 Britons in the region have registered for updates from the UK government.

Despite doing this, Morton, who is travelling alone, has told BBC Radio Leeds she feels "left in the lurch" by the UK government and has been unable to speak to anyone about her situation.

Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that more than 4,000 people have arrived back in the UK on commercial flights from the UAE, including "vulnerable Brits".

A further seven flights will depart from the UAE to the UK later in the day, with the government laying on additional charter flights in the days to come.

British Airways is also putting on daily flights from Oman.

Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer described the situation as "a consular challenge on a scale not seen since Covid" and said there were "no instant solutions."

Morton said she booked a flight home as soon as she received an alert about the situation but that has not happened yet.

"I tried to get in touch with the British Embassy and completely failed, I've not had much support to be honest," she explained.

Since then she said she been inside her hotel, where she has met a number of other British nationals.

"I have not actually seen outside the hotel in daylight and we don't have any clarity on what's going to happen," she said.

"I am struggling. I spend most of my days crying, just shaking and I can't eat, can't sleep, I just need to see my family."

Morton's family have been trying to arrange a flight home for her but have so far been unsuccessful.

"They have limited scope in what they can do, it all feels helpless," she said.

Katie White, Labour MP for Leeds North West, said she wanted to raise the case directly with officials at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

She said: "This is a fast-changing situation."

Current government advice for British nationals in the region is to register with the Foreign Office, monitor the latest travel advice and follow instructions of the local authorities.

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