‘It was surreal’: holidaymakers on first flight out of Abu Dhabi describe petrifying experience

Holidaymakers on the first flights out of Abu Dhabi since Saturday have described their experiences up close as conflict erupted between Iran and its Gulf neighbours.

With thousands of flights cancelled across the Middle East, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded, the UK has begun forming evacuation plans for some of the estimated 300,000 Britons in the region.

While these plans form, a small number of flights have found their way out of the United Arab Emirates, including EY067, which landed at Heathrow just after 7pm on Monday.

As passengers came through arrivals 45 minutes later, they described their fear as missiles flew overhead.

“We could hear the explosions. We could sometimes feel them … and then [there was] black ash landing in the breakfast,” said Pen Harrison, part of a group of friends undertaking a cycling tour in Sri Lanka, who had been on a stopover in Abu Dhabi.

Sahib Matharu, 31, from London, who was also on a stopover through Abu Dhabi, said: “We were on edge the whole time. It was surreal.

“On the plane, just as we were about to leave, we were looking at the news, seeing there’s been another strike, and thinking – are they going to let us leave? It was that level of uncertainty.”

Every passenger on the flight who spoke to the Guardian reported seeing missile interceptions from their hotel.

After two nights, the passengers received a text from the airline. They had just minutes to get downstairs and travel to the airport.

Laura and Nikki, the mothers of 19-year-olds Lila and Ross respectively, were shocked as they learned what was happening. Their children were on holiday in Thailand, only expecting to be in Abu Dhabi for an hour-long stopover.

“It’s petrifying,” said Laura. “They’re 19, they shouldn’t have to go through that. They didn’t know when they were getting home.”

Nikki added: “It just makes you realise how volatile the area can be.”

The UAE government was quick to issue warning texts to people in the area, which reassured many British holidaymakers about their situation.

One message told them to stay away from windows, which couple Ed and Jane from Coventry understood when they got to Abu Dhabi’s airport and saw the shattered glass. “It’s put me off going for quite a while,” said Jane.

The couple were relieved to not be in Dubai, where they normally holiday. There the damage was even worse, with missiles hitting sites such as the Jebel Ali port area, and the Burj Al Arab, widely regarded as Dubai’s most recognisable landmark.

At least three people have been reported dead by the UAE after these attacks. It remains unclear whether Iran was directly targeting hotels and other landmarks.

With the exception of this flight, airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel, Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar was still virtually empty as of Monday, according to the flight tracking website Flightradar24.

The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, told UK media that 102,000 British citizens had registered their presence in the UAE, with 300,000 total living in Gulf countries.

“We didn’t get much support from the UK government” said Dave Richards, from Winchester. But he and other tourists said it was easy to register their presence, and were impressed with the airline’s organisation in getting them out.

Tom and Jeanette Bird, who were on holiday in Delhi and got caught on their stopover through Abu Dhabi. Photograph: Isaaq Tomkins

“Everyone handled it really well, so we can’t grumble,” said Tom and Jeanette Bird.

“Some people were panicked, and some people weren’t batting an eyelid. A very British attitude,” said Amanda Dawson from Worcestershire.

Right now, thousands of Britons remain stranded, with no clear picture of the government’s evacuation plans.