Canadians are stuck in parts of the Middle East as war with Iran disrupts travel, grounding flights and leaving some tourists scrambling to find their way home.
Global Affairs Canada said as of Wednesday, more than 106,000 Canadian citizens and permanent residents had registered in the Gulf region, a figure that had grown since Sunday. Many tourists disrupted travel plans last weekend after an early strike in Iran grounded thousands of flights. Most are located in Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Brothers Kimble and Ravi Sarin were among those caught up in the widespread disruption. The Canadians were due to leave Sri Lanka on Saturday after a month-long vacation, but their flight was canceled amid travel chaos.
“We have another flight. We were denied twice at the airport,” Kimball Sarin told Global News.
His brother said the delays were becoming urgent. “I am taking medicine and I am running out. I have only a couple of days (worth) left,” Ravi Sarin said.
Ottawa says it has secured a limited number of seats on commercial flights from Beirut and is looking at other options.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said that Israel’s Ministry of Tourism operates buses to Menachem Begin, the border crossing between Eilat and Taba, Egypt.
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However, Global Affairs Canada does not currently offer assisted exit, Anand said.
Will McAleer of the Travel Health Insurance Association said travelers in affected areas may have limited options.
“That means make sure you understand how you’re going to be able to get out. Or if you’re in some of the affected areas where they’ve stopped all flight operations, you’ve got to sit tight,” he said.
In Doha, airspace is closed, with Canadians waiting for conditions to change.
Queen’s University’s Stephen Lougheed was with a group of students returning from a field trip in Sri Lanka when his trip home was interrupted when he got stuck in Qatar.
“It’s a closed air space because there are still missiles and drones flying,” Lougheed said.
The group is staying at a hotel while they consider whether they can leave the land, though Lougheed said the situation could change quickly. “There are some lulls in hostilities, but that can change on a dime,” he said.
A Quebec woman told Global that she had been calling her sister for about an hour since Sunday after the woman got stuck in Qatar when airspace across the Middle East was closed.
Melissa Agathiadis’ sister, Stephanie Agathiadis, was scheduled to return to Quebec on March 2 from a three-week trip to Thailand and Vietnam. Instead, Stephanie and her partner were stuck in Qatar during a layover after the airspace was closed.
“Missiles are flying left and right,” Stephanie Agathiadis said.
Sarin’s brothers say they have now booked another flight via Hong Kong to Toronto for Friday, though they remain cautious.
“Still scared to get too excited about going home, but we’re hopeful,” Kimball Sarin said.
The trip back to Canada is expected to take about 35 hours if it continues as planned.
Dozens of Canadians have managed to cross the border into neighboring countries to leave Iran on their own, government officials said late Wednesday as Ottawa advanced its regional evacuation options amid a “rapidly” deteriorating situation.
With much of the Middle East’s airspace closed, “there’s not much we can do at this moment” to get people out of Iran, officials admitted in a technical briefing with reporters.
Global Affairs Canada is ramping up additional staffing to consulates in countries bordering Iran to provide visa assistance and other needs to Canadians fleeing the war.
For the rest of the region, External Affairs Minister Anita Anand said the government is working on several options to get Canadians out safely, including a “limited number” of chartered flights, black-booking seats on commercial flights and ground transportation.
(tags to translate)Iran
