A Cumbrian English teacher who was stuck in Dubai as hostilities broke out in the Middle East has returned home after trying to return for eight days.
Leroy Johnson, of Carlisle, had flown out to Dubai to visit family living in the region and was due to fly home on Sunday March 1.
He arrived home with his partner and son on Sunday March 8 after boarding one of a few commercial flights exiting the region.
Leroy said: “We got some seats on an Airbus A380 back to Manchester, there were only a few seats left. Ironically once we’d already booked them the evacuation flights started.
“It’s only kind of really hit me today what we’ve been involved with and how serious it was really.”
While Leroy and his family were waiting for their taxi to the airport they saw and felt more explosions nearby.
He added: “When we were waiting for our taxi on Saturday night there was this enormous bang at some kind of building across the block about a mile away and we could see this fireball.
“It shook the apartment and there was two concurrent bangs, one came from behind us. It felt like it was getting way too close for comfort.
“But we obviously went to the airport and it was desolated and there were warnings all over the screens saying missile attacks were imminent and warnings on your phones too.
“We didn’t know if we were even going to get on the plane to be honest.”
Leroy added that the flight home felt different to normal.
He said: “You could see all the rows of screens and people were just watching the cameras on the plane rather than movies and things like that.
“It was quite surreal on there but the staff were good and it was quite a while before everyone settled down.
“Until we got out of Saudi airspace I think everyone was a bit anxious about it. But a couple of hours in people started to nod off and put films on and it sunk in that we were ‘safe’.”
Leroy’s original flight home was one of thousands of cancelled flights in the region after Iran launched retaliatory attacks on the Gulf states following US and Israeli strikes that began early on Saturday February 28.
He was in the pool with his family at their hotel in Dubai Creek when they first heard loud bangs and missiles overhead.
Leroy added: “The only way I can describe it is it’s louder than when you’re in the Lake District and you’ve got the RAF Typhoons are going overhead.
“It was louder and quicker than that, you could hear bangs and missiles and these really loud alerts through phones as a blanket alert.
“Then it quietened down and the news was all delayed, we were seeing stuff happening that wasn’t reported on until a day or two later.
“But we also couldn’t return our hire car back, we had to return it to a shopping mall because the building was attacked during one of the first hits on the airport.”
Leroy said everywhere was deserted and quiet for the eight days they were stranded in the country.
The United Arab Emirates also paid for the two emergency accommodation hotel’s Leroy and his family had to stay in.
He added: “Everyone was continuing on but all the roads and streets were deserted.
“We were out there to see a family member and it was all six lanes of traffic nose to tail everywhere went and this time it was just dead.
“People were obviously quite nervous about it and you could see interceptions on a night time in the sky.
“When you’re in Dubai a flight takes off and lands almost every 60 seconds there and that was really weird because the sky was just empty, there was nothing there.”
Leroy said his family are relieved to be home and have now just returned to work after catching their flight home.
He said: “I’m back at work, I’m a bit of a creature of habit, I like my routine, but it was great because a lot of the kids were saying it’s great to have you back and the staff have been supportive too.
“But it’s really nice to be back on home soil and get back into life again.
“My family member lives and works in Dubai and is staying there, but they’re tough and they’re not phased by it and they’re working throughout it all.
“It was also their birthday while we were out there and I said to them they won’t be forgetting it anytime soon.”
