Relief as gran, 73, heads home amid Dubai 'chaos'

A family say they have had sleepless nights while attempting to get a grandmother home from Dubai as the conflict in Iran intensifies.

Lenise Blom, 73, from Truro in Cornwall, had been in the United Arab Emirates for a family reunion when the US and Israel started strikes on 28 February.

Her daughter Afton Southern said that despite being put on a priority list, her mother was told she might have to wait a week for a flight.

It is believed Blom boarded an Emirates plane amid "absolute chaos" at the airport on Saturday.

Southern said it was a big relief, especially after flights were suspended in Dubai following Iranian drone strikes.

The BBC has contacted Emirates.

The UK Foreign Office pointed to its website, which offers travel advice to Britons and a link to register their presence in Middle East countries.

Thousands of British nationals have been stranded in the UAE and other Middle East countries since the war began.

The first UK repatriation flight set up by the UK government arrived early on Friday from Muscat, Oman.

Many Britons have desperately been trying to find seats on flights in the region.

Since the conflict started, a number of neighbouring countries and an RAF base at Akrotiri in Cyprus have been hit by Iranian retaliatory attacks.

Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran's president, apologised to neighbouring nations that had been hit and said the country's military had been asked to stop striking them.

However, the UAE and Qatar have reported being attacked by missiles and drones after the apology.

Southern, who lives in St Ives, said her mother had been told she could get on a flight on Saturday morning, but turned up at the airport to find it was closed due to air strikes.

A video sent by Blom from the airport showed hundreds of people sitting in a terminal waiting to board flights.

In the video, Blom said: "Finally at the gate, but it looks like mayhem here.

"It's absolute chaos and there's people everywhere."

Her daughter said the situation had been "quite scary" for her mother and the rest of the family.

Southern said being told her mother had managed to get on a flight was welcome news.

"We're talking about a 73-year-old woman whose anxiety has been going through the roof," she said.

"She just wants to get out and come home and see her grandchildren, her daughter, her son and her family."

Emirates airline previously said it had carried approximately 30,000 passengers out of Dubai.

"In certain high-demand markets, Emirates has significantly scaled up its operations," a spokesperson said.

"In the UK alone, the airline will be operating 11 daily flights across five airports by 7 March, reflecting the strength of travel demand between the UAE and UK."

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