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5 hours ago
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A British boy who spent three nights stranded in Dubai airport is among the latest tourists to arrive back in the UK since conflict engulfed the Middle East.
Ahmad Ali, 12, from Swindon in Wiltshire, spent three nights in the airport while travelling back from Pakistan.
Emirates staff had been looking after him since the airstrikes started at the weekend.
His parents and younger sister, Noor, tearfully greeted him at Heathrow airport’s arrivals gate on Tuesday.
His mother, Hafsa Ali, said: “It was very terrible for us because he is only 12 years old and he was alone. Thanks to Emirates, they looked after my son. I can’t express my feelings.
“When we realised he would be delayed in Dubai it was terrifying and we were looking at the news and social media to see what was going on.”
Ahmad said: “It was so terrible but I was with Emirates and they wanted to take care of me.”
The schoolboy added he was “so happy” to be home.
A couple with a three-year-old daughter who camped out in an abandoned nightclub were also on Emirates flight EK8001, which landed at Heathrow after a delayed departure from Dubai.
Ourania Righelato, 32, from Barnet, north London, said she stayed in the building in an attempt to shelter from the missile strikes with her husband, Jay, and daughter, Annabel.
She said: “We didn’t know when we would come home. Our family was watching the mainstream media and they were petrified.
“We were sleeping in an abandoned nightclub with beds put together and we had a little one with us, our daughter, she’s three. We had no idea when we would come home at all.
“The first night we were just sleeping on the floor because the hotel was not prepared for it. The next day they were so accommodating and we can’t fault them but obviously to be home is just unbelievable.”
Air travel in the Middle East has been severely disrupted since Saturday, with thousands of flights cancelled, after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran, which retaliated with attacks across the region.
Magda Papadimitriou, 40, from Greece, who was stuck in Dubai for five days, said: “It was very scary. Dubai doesn’t have shelters, it doesn’t have that kind of stuff, [but] they tried to make us feel less worried.
“We wanted to go home because we feel safe there. You don’t know how this will escalate in the coming days so it was very hard for us.”
