First charter jet brings French nationals home from Middle East
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
France is among the most affected Western nations, with an estimated 400,000 of its nationals present in around 15 countries touched by the conflict.
PHOTO: AFP
PARIS – A first charter flight carrying French nationals stranded in the Middle East since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran landed at Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris early on March 4.
Governments and airlines have been scrambling to repatriate tens of thousands of travellers stranded after the eruption of a regional conflict sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which then targeted American sites across the Gulf.
France is among the most affected Western nations, with an estimated 400,000 nationals present in around 15 countries touched by the conflict.
The aircraft chartered by Air France left Muscat, the capital of Oman, on the evening of March 3 and landed in France shortly before 3am (10am Singapore time) on March 3.
“We never thought this would happen,” said passenger Emmy Coutelier, 18.
When the first strikes hit Dubai, she was in the hotel swimming pool with her boyfriend.
After hugging her sister, who had come to meet her at the airport, a still-shaken Ms Coutelier recounted her experience.
“An alarm sounded in the middle of the night telling us not to stay near the windows,” she said. “We went down to the basement.”
When Ms Coutelier boarded the repatriation flight, she said she felt as if she were “fleeing danger, even though it’s a relatively safe country”.
The plane carried staff of the airline as well as many families, young children and pregnant women, government minister Eleonore Caroit told reporters at the airport.
“It was a complex process, with constant uncertainty because we are in a very fluid situation, with airspace opening and closing and the situation changing from hour to hour,” Ms Caroit added.
Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told broadcaster France 2 there would be several flights on March 4, including one to repatriate French nationals from the United Arab Emirates.
Another flight, out of Egypt, will bring back “some of our most vulnerable compatriots” from Israel, he said.
More French nationals are getting in contact with consular authorities, “but not all of them want to return to France”, said Ms Caroit. AFP
