The first Government mercy flight for Britons stranded in the Middle East has been branded a ‘s***show’ after it failed to take off last night.
The aircraft chartered by the Foreign Office for British nationals being evacuated from Muscat to the UK was grounded because the pilot had exceeded his hours and ‘needed to rest’, according to passengers.
People due to take off for home last night became ‘very agitated’ and started ‘banging windows’ with some having ‘panic attacks’ when it failed to take off to escape the widening Iran war, one passenger claimed.
The evacuation was a ‘total shambles’ because checking in for the flight took at least four hours and then they waited on the plane for another 90 minutes before being taken off again, the person on board said.
They said: ‘Due to slow check-in and delays, the pilot had clocked his hours so needed to rest. No consular staff were present airside. They just left us. People started getting very agitated, banging windows, panic attacks’, branding it a ‘s***show’.
Another passenger said: ‘We’ve been transferred to a hotel and it’s expected to depart later today. It’s a total farce.’
A third described it diplomatically as ‘a very difficult situation for everyone’ especially after ‘a very long day’.
Those eligible for a seat on a government rescue flight are being asked to pay around £350. Poppy Cleary, 27, paid for her seat but claims she ‘never heard back’ and remains stranded in Oman.
A Foreign Office spokesman told the Daily Mail: ‘The UK government charter flight was not able to depart from Oman yesterday as planned due to technical issues. The flight is now expected to depart later today’.
It came as other European nations such Austria and Spain successfully evacuated its citizens last night. In Austria the country’s foreign minister was even waiting to greet passengers.
Around 400 Irish citizens landed home in Dublin from Dubai on Wednesday evening.
As war with Iran intensifies, it emerged today:
- Iran fired a number of missiles toward Israel in the early hours of Thursday but Israeli military claims launch numbers are decreasing. Explosions heard in Qatar and Bahrain;
- Two Israeli strikes near Lebanon’s capital Beirut have left three people dead and six injured;
- UK Defence Secretary John Healey is expected to visit Cyprus later on Thursday amid concerns about protection of RAF Akrotiri. The UK is sending the HMS Dragon warship – but not until next week;
- Frightened holidaymakers and British nationals are scrambling for flights home, with some families paying up to £100,000 for private jets to escape Dubai;
- Back in Britain, mourners holding a candlelit vigil for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have clashed with anti-Iranian regime protestors in Manchester city centre;
- Thousands of Kurdish fighters have launched a ground invasion in Iran;
Spanish nationals pictured boarding a military repatriation flight in Oman on Wednesday. A British mercy flight failed to take off due to delays and then the pilot exceeding his hours
Austria’s Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger welcomes passengers upon the arrival of a charter plane carrying Austrian nationals evacuated from Muscat last night
Happy scenes as the Italian government’s rescue flight from Abu Dhabi arrives at Fiumicino Airport
The British mercy plane was due to depart the capital Muscat at 11pm local time (7pm UK time) on Wednesday in what would have been the first repatriation effort by the UK Foreign Office since the Middle East conflict began.
Poppy Cleary, 27, was stranded in Muscat on Saturday after war broke out when she was transiting through.
‘I registered, I paid the £350 and then I never heard back,’ she told BBC’s Your Voice.
‘Clearly I didn’t get on the flight – it’s a bit frustrating that they couldn’t even let me know that I hadn’t made the cut.’
Other commercial flights have been taking off from the region on a reduced basis.
One anonymous passenger who was booked on the Muscat flight described the situation as a ‘total s***show’.
They told Sky News: ‘The check-in process took about four hours due to technical issues. We then got taken to the plane on a bus but had to stay on it for about one-and-a-half hours.
‘There are dozens and dozens of vulnerable people, young children and families.
Poppy Cleary, 27, told the BBC she registered for the I paid the £350 and then I never heard back,’
‘We had no way of contacting consular staff to find out what was wrong.
‘Eventually we were taken back to the terminal with no guidance or consular staff present for about an hour.
‘We were told due to slow check-in and delays the pilot had clocked his hours so needed to rest.
‘They then disembarked us, and we were taken to a hotel.
‘We have been told the plane will take off later today [Thursday] once the pilot has rested.
‘The stress this has caused these vulnerable people is incredibly serious.’
It is understood the flight is scheduled to leave later today.
The Daily Mail contacted the Foreign Office for comment.
Since the war broke out between Iran and the US and Israel on Saturday, more than 130,000 Britons have registered their interest with the UK government in being helped to leave the region.
Airports across the region were initially closed after Iranian missile and drone attacks, but have now begun to reopen with heavily restricted air traffic.
Those eligible for the government flights have been asked to pay for their seat.
Sir Keir Starmer has announced two further Government-chartered flights, another is expected to leave Oman on Thursday.
Two more British Airways flights will take passengers from Muscat to London Heathrow on Friday and Saturday.
Some 138,000 British nationals have registered their presence in the Middle East.
People gather on the sides of a road as smoke rises in the background following an explosion in Tehran today
Frightened holidaymakers and British nationals scramble for flights home, with some families paying up to £100,000 for private jets to escape the war-shaken Gulf state. Pictured: Dubai airport this week
Qatar Airways announced it would operate ‘a limited number of relief flights’ to European cities on Thursday, but confirmed most flights would remain suspended due to the ongoing closure of Qatari airspace.
Services from Muscat would depart for London Heathrow as well as Madrid, Rome, Amsterdam and Copenhagen. Another flight would depart from Saudi Arabia’s capital city, Riyadh, to Frankfurt.
‘Passengers are kindly requested not to proceed to the airport unless they have received an official notification from Qatar Airways for these flights,’ the airline wrote in a statement on X.
Poppy Cleary, 27, is one of those stranded in Muscat after her flight from Singapore was diverted to Oman on Saturday.
She told the BBC’s Your Voice: ‘I registered, I paid the £350 and then I never heard back.’
She said the British Embassy in Oman told her that the first flight was not for people who had been diverted to Muscat, but instead for people who had come to Oman from ‘unsafe countries’ including the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar.
‘Clearly I didn’t get on the flight – it’s a bit frustrating that they couldn’t even let me know that I hadn’t made the cut.’
Separately, British Airways has also organised a flight from Muscat to London Heathrow, which is due to depart early today. BA does not normally serve Muscat as part of its schedule.
In a statement, BA said it had scheduled further flights from Muscat to Heathrow on Friday, March 6, and Saturday, March 7.
But the airline added that all these flights were now fully booked, although BA said it could add additional services ‘if we are able to’.
‘We are constantly reviewing the situation and will continue to do everything we can to support our customers and colleagues in the region and remain in regular contact with them,’ added BA.
Spain and Austria did successfully get trapped citizens out of the Middle East last night.
Spanish nationals boarded a military repatriation flight at an unknown location in Oman on Wednesday.
Yesterday, Austria’s Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger also welcomed passengers for the arrival of a charter plane carrying Austrian nationals evacuated from Muscat at Vienna International Airport.
