Middle East War: Banbridge couple's flights out of Qatar escape Iranian missiles twice
A Banbridge couple had their flight home from Qatar turned back due to Iranian missiles – and their airport was hit just after they left a week later.
Michael and Teresa Watt from Banbridge had been on holiday in New Zealand and called with their son in Australia.
On their journey back home they stopped in Qatari capital Doha and then departed for Heathrow - but were turned back over Bahrain due to Iranian missiles and the outbreak of war.
The couple spent over a week stranded in Doha but were grateful to get the first flight out on Saturday – the four planes behind having been stopped by a missile strike on the airport.
Yesterday (Monday), 16 out of the 18 scheduled flights from the UK to Qatar were cancelled because of continued airspace closures.
More than 37,000 British nationals have returned to the UK from the Middle East in recent days, out of some 172,000 who have registered their presence in the region.
Yesterday it was reported that a UK Government rescue flight is to bring Britons back on the first rescue flight from Dubai.
It comes after a third rescue flight from Oman landed in the UK early yesterday (Monday), with more than 200 British nationals on board.
When the Watts were turned back to Doha at the outset of the war it was "a scrum" at the airport, said Michael, a 61-year-old financial advisor.
"There were thousands upon thousands of people. The Qatar Airways staff were very good, but they were completely swamped."
That night they slept in the airport. No flights were leaving.
Qatar Airways took care of their expenses and got them to a hotel the next day.
"Over the next few days there were a few explosions every day, usually during the day," he said,
On Thursday he saw an Iranian missile flying over that was intercepted by four Qatari defence missiles
"So the place is very well defended. I think that was the only one rocket that actually landed in Qatar that we know of."
As reported by other NI residents in Dubai, life in Doha was "very chilled" he said.
"You would not think there's a war going on. It is like Belfast factory in the eighties and nineties. Everybody's just walking about going about their daily business."
Because it was Ramadan, most people stay inside during the day and come out at night to attend the market.
"It was absolutely jam packed."
Some people who were on business trips drove to Saudi Arabia to get flights out of Riyadh, which was organised by their companies.
However there were large queues to do so, and Saudi visas were required, which he said were hard to come by.
Michael decided to stick with Qatar Airways as they were getting great communication from - up to five or six text messages a day.
They were also getting several texts each day from the Irish and British embassies, keeping them up to date.
However neither was able to offer any practical help, because they had no resources, he said.
They only had their hand luggage for the week, so went out and bought some more clothes.
Also sharing in the disruption were three cruise ships stranded in Doha with 15,000 tourists on board.
The couple got regular text messages from the Qatari government to warn of danger.
Soon after they got a follow up message to say that the missiles or drones had been destroyed.
Michael also reported that the Qataris police have arrested 195 people for sharing "sensitive images" of Doha and maybe "misreporting things on social media".
"They are right on top of things and are not looking for any misrepresentation of their country. They seem to be a very proud and generous people."
He noted that the unemployment rate in Qatar is only 0.2%.
The Co Down couple eventually got a call on Saturday at 1:30am telling them to come downstairs to be taken to the airport.
Only a small number of people were selected. There were five flights out - only one of which was to London, which they took.
"The flight took off, and it was the first flight out of Doha since the lockdown,” he said.
However the next four planes behind them that were ready to go were halted as a missile hit the airport.
"So we've counted ourselves so lucky just to be in the right place at the right time. But we also feel so sorry for all the people who turned up at the airport and were disappointed."
"Meanwhile, Teresa and trees and I are home in Banbridge, and getting back to normal, so it's a happy ending for us."