When Jo Swain left Sydney early Saturday morning, her destination was the United Kingdom, where she intended to attend her father’s funeral. Little did she anticipate that her journey would come to a sudden halt in Dubai, amid an unexpected and tense situation.

Originally, Swain’s plan was to spend a brief three hours in Dubai during a layover before continuing on to Birmingham. However, upon her arrival in the bustling transit hub of the United Arab Emirates, she was confronted with a distressing sight: every flight listed on the departure screen was marked as cancelled.

The chaos erupted after the United States and Israel launched missile strikes against Iran on Saturday. In retaliation, Iran targeted 11 Middle Eastern countries with U.S. military bases, affecting nations such as the UAE and Qatar.

This escalation led to widespread travel disruptions, causing significant airspace closures and a wave of flight cancellations across the region. It was a level of disruption reminiscent of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For Swain, the unexpected turn of events meant she had to collect her suitcase, apply for a UAE visa, and navigate customs procedures, all while grappling with the uncertainty of when she might be able to continue her journey.

Swain was simply told to pick up her suitcase, apply for a visa for the UAE, and go through customs.

“We waited six hours for our suitcases … we queued for hours to go through customs,” she told SBS News on Wednesday. “There were just suitcases everywhere … It was a sea of people.”

“Then it was a two or three-hour queue to get on the buses. You got loaded on these huge buses with no idea of where you were going.”

Dubai International Airport was hit by retaliatory strikes and the Burj Al Arab sustained damage from interceptor fragments. Three people were killed and 58 injured, according to the UAE Ministry of Defence.

Swain was taken to a hotel 18 kilometres north of the Port of Jebel Ali, where a berth caught fire following the aerial interception of a drone targeting an airport in the UAE’s capital of Abu Dhabi, according to the Emirates News Agency (WAM).

Operations at the port were suspended after the fire and other Iranian attacks, but have since returned to normal, WAM has said.

“You’re just hearing bombs going off as you’re trying to sleep,” Swain said.

“I’ve seen an active drone go over the rooftop pool … it literally looked like a missile. A small missile with wings. You’ve got kids in the pool. It’s just surreal.”

Swain said she and her fellow hotel guests were at an English pub down the road, trying to have a drink and cheer themselves up, when “we saw another drone blown up in front of the pub”.

Funeral Zoom link ‘the best I can do’

With flights coming up sparingly and only at the last minute, Swain chose to focus on trying to get a flight back home to Sydney — and in doing so, resigned herself to watching her father’s funeral on Zoom.

“I think there was a flight leaving to Birmingham today [Wednesday], which there could have been a small chance that I got there, but it would have been super stressful,” she said.

“If it had been late by 30 minutes, I would have missed the funeral.”

“I’ve basically drawn a line under it and gone, ‘I’m not going to get there to the funeral’. I made the difficult decision to concentrate on trying to get a Sydney flight and get back home to my family.”

“I got the Zoom link. That’s the best I can do.”

Swain spoke to SBS News hours before the funeral was set to take place.

She said the ordeal has been “surreal”.

“You go from one night sleeping peacefully in your Sydney bed, and you’re worrying about what your kids are eating or worrying about renovations at your house, to suddenly you’re in Dubai and you’re in a war zone … you’re hearing explosions,” she said.

“It’s just surreal.”

‘People just breaking down crying’

Nearly all flights out of the region were grounded after the strikes, with the first commercial flights out of Dubai touching down in Sydney late Wednesday night, with more than 200 Australians on board.

Swain was meant to be on that plane.

She received a call from the Emirates airline at midnight and rushed to the airport after she was told there was a spare seat on a flight home.

“I was in my pyjamas in bed and quickly scrambled some clothes on. I hadn’t unpacked — they told us not to unpack and be ready with a backpack and everything at short notice.”

“I just jumped in the taxi and went. You go through this whirlwind of emotions and this rollercoaster of wondering if you’re on a flight.”

But it was scenes of chaos at the airport.

“I got to the airport and they were screaming for Sydney people. The airport was pretty chaotic. I saw people just breaking down crying.

“There were people in their pyjamas with no shoes on.”

When she got to the front of the queue, the flight attendant told her the gate was closed and she couldn’t board. She was forced to take a taxi back to the hotel, not sure if she even had a room still.

She described seeing one family with a 13-month-old baby who had managed to board the flight, carrying just their hand luggage and things for the baby.

“They got out on the runway of Dubai Airport with debris and stuff everywhere,” she said. “[The mother] was breastfeeding, thank god — but they still didn’t have any luggage.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a second flight had departed Dubai on Thursday morning with two more expected in the evening, describing the situation in the region as “dangerous and fast-moving”.

“We know there are many Australians who are waiting for an opportunity to get home,” Albanese said.

“The Australian Government, the UAE and the Gulf states are working hard to secure more flights to get Australian homes as soon as possible.”

There are 115,000 Australians in the region, with at least 24,000 located in Dubai. This includes expats or people transiting through.

He said agencies and partners were “working around the clock” to help Australians on the ground, alongside six additional crisis centre teams.

“And we’ve already deployed six military assets as part of our contingency planning earlier this week,” Albanese said.

Swain has been told she would be on a flight to Sydney imminently, but says she isn’t holding her breath.

“You just don’t know until you’re on that plane and you’re leaving the UAE airspace. I think I’ll be having a gin and tonic on the plane as soon as we’ve left UAE.”

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