‘Scary to be here’: Torontonian travellers stranded in Dubai left without answers on return home

Torontonian Devin Ramoutar, who is stuck in Dubai amid the turmoil in Iran, discusses what it was like to find out about the U.S.-Israel missile strikes against

Fresh off their wedding celebrations, Gurleen Kaur and her husband arrived in Dubai anticipating romance and relaxation. Twenty-four hours after their arrival, their bliss curdled into fear as rising tensions tied to the conflict in Iran left the newlywed terrified to leave her hotel.

“It’s just so scary to be here, like I can’t even express, and my family is panicking back home. It’s just crazy,” Kaur told CTV News Toronto in an interview on Tuesday.

Kaur and her husband celebrated their wedding in India with their families earlier in February and decided to turn their layover in Dubai into an extended stay to mark their honeymoon. Everything felt fine during their first full day there, Kaur said, pointing to how they walked nearly 20 kilometres throughout the city, sightseeing.

Kaur says she did not have an idea of what was going on, really, until she had a conversation with an employee working on a cruise line in the Dubai Marina.

“I went to get the ticket, and the guy said, ‘Look at the sky.’ And I said, ‘What’s in the sky, is it gonna rain?’ He said, ‘No, there might be missiles over there,’” Kaur recounted.

• READ MORE: Canada condemns Iran’s civilian strikes, asks all parties to ‘respect rules of international order’

The conflict in the Middle East reached a turning point when the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran on Saturday, in a campaign dubbed “Operation Epic Fury,” which killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Retaliatory strikes have since spread across the oil-rich Gulf, including one incident at the Fairmont Hotel on Dubai’s man-made island The Palm, three kilometres from where Kaur says she was at the time of the incident.

“We were panicked, we tried to calm down,” Kaur said.

Terry Gould, a Torontonian staying at an Airbnb across the water from the incident, said he and his wife heard explosions off in the distance.

“I saw something on TV when I had woken up in the morning, and they were talking about the fact that Israel and the United States had attacked Iran, and it really didn’t hit home until late afternoon when we heard an explosion here, across the water from us, and there was a fire,” the 67-year-old recounted.

Rescheduled or cancelled flights

The fallout from the airstrike has stranded thousands of airline passengers, including Devin Ramoutar, who says he and his group tried to book an emergency flight back home to Toronto but have been met with little success.

“Our flight has been rescheduled three times, including the other one that we booked,” Ramoutar said in an interview with CP24 Breakfast on Monday, adding he contacted the local Canadian embassy but has not yet heard a response.

“They keep saying if something is to happen, according to the response, they’ll reach out to us. But, as of now, they’re monitoring and, to their defence too … the airspace is completely shut down.”

The Canadian government said in an update Tuesday airspace over the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is “subject to intermittent, temporary and partial closures.” Air Canada to temporarily suspend all flights servicing through Dubai and Tel Aviv until March 23.

Gould says his daughter’s flight was cancelled early Tuesday morning, adding that he is unsure if he and his wife will fly to Toronto Pearson on Saturday.

Kaur, who was scheduled to return to Toronto on Wednesday, said her flight with Emirates early Wednesday morning had also been cancelled.

Kaur says she has called Emirates dozens of times but has had her call dropped or disconnected.

“I’m trying to call them for rescheduling, nothing yet. I told the hotel, ‘Who’s gonna pay for the expenses from tomorrow?’” Kaur said. “They said, ‘Check tomorrow morning.’”

At the time of Kaur’s interview with CTV News Toronto, her husband had been waiting for at least an hour at the Dubai International Airport, waiting to speak to an Emirates representative directly.

The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) of the UAE announced Sunday that the state “is bearing all hosting and accommodation costs for affected and stranded passengers.” While Gould has been made aware of it, calling it a “fantastic” gesture, Kaur says she is unsure who will bear the costs at the start.

“There’s some other people we met here, they said they’re paying from their pocket and Emirates will reimburse it later, so I don’t know if I have to pay or they will cover it,” Kaur said.

Thousands of Canadians stranded

Global Affairs Canada says there are more than 97,000 Canadians who have registered as being in the Middle East at this time.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand has indicated asking Oman to use its airspace for Canadians to come home, but there is currently no plan from the federal government to coordinate an evacuation effort.

• READ MORE: Anand asks Oman for possible airspace use, but no plan for government evacuation

Anand says she has communicated with several foreign ministers from the Persian Gulf and Middle East, to ensure there are “possibilities for Canadians to have supports in those countries.”

Gould says the situation in Dubai has calmed down enough that he feels safe, pointing to how local media reported how the Crown Prince went out for coffee at the Dubai Mall to assuage fears.

“The first couple of days we were on edge, I won’t lie … We heard fighter jets on a daily basis, circling the area, going around the area, but we know that they’re ours (Dubai’s),” Gould said.

“We have police boats in the harbour making sure that there is no boating traffic. They want to keep people out of our swimming pool here at the top of the building is closed, so there’s little, little things that they’ve been doing just to make sure that people are safe yet again.”

For Kaur, however, she says she has been fearful to leave the airport hotel she’s in, as every time she hears some sort of loud noise or receives an emergency alert, she sprints to the basement floor of the building for safety.

“I don’t want to deal with this. I prayed so much to enjoy this vacation, and I’m just hiding here from those missiles.”

With files from The Canadian Press