A Canadian man visiting Dubai says his family needs more help from the government to get home, as flight cancellations have impeded their travel since the U.S.-Iran conflict broke out on Saturday and halted air traffic across the region.
Devin Ramoutar says he arrived in Dubai with his parents and sister on Thursday for a short vacation and they were supposed to head back home on Monday, but their flight has been cancelled six times.
The 27-year-old Toronto man says he contacted the Canadian government immediately after the war started and only heard back after about 48 hours via email with general information about how to leave the United Arab Emirates through land border crossings with Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Ramoutar says his family is not receiving any support from the Canadian embassy and they’ve had to extend their Airbnb stay while waiting to find a flight back to Canada.
Simon Marcotte arrived in Dubai with his fiancée and her child last month on a work trip and he says they are considering their options now as the vast majority of flights out of the city have been cancelled.
The 33-year-old from Quebec City, who works in marketing, says he received information from the government on how to leave via land border crossings and he finds that helpful in case he and his fiancée decide to head to Oman.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says 103,000 people have registered with Global Affairs Canada in the Middle East and Gulf region.
The Canadian government is not offering assisted departures from the region.
“Canadians in the region should prepare departure plans that do not rely solely on Government of Canada assistance,” Anand said. “Global Affairs Canada is not currently offering assisted departures, but we are in touch with our partners to identify potential options.”
Some commercial options are also currently available elsewhere in the region, including Saudi Arabia and Oman, but airspace in others, including the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain, are closed.
Israel’s ministry of tourism is operating buses to the border with Egypt and Anand said Global Affairs is communicating these options to people registered in the region.
Canadians are being advised to avoid all travel to a number of countries in the region as the U.S.-Iran conflict widens. The war erupted as the United States and Israel launched major strikes on Iran, and Iran retaliated with strikes in various parts of the region.
