Delayed UK rescue flight due to leave Middle East on Thursday, says minister

Delayed UK rescue flight due to leave Middle East on Thursday, says minister Government-chartered plane was held up in Oman overnight for ‘operational reasons’, according to Alex Norris UK politics live – latest updates Middle East crisis – live updates The first government rescue flight from the Middle East failed to take off because of problems “getting passengers on board”, a minister has said. Technical issues meant the flight did not depart on Wednesday night from the Omani capital, Muscat. The Home Office minister Alex Norris said the government-chartered plane would now leave Muscat for the UK on Thursday, but was unable to say at what time. Norris told LBC: “It didn’t take off because there are operational reasons … about getting passengers on board, and it wasn’t able to happen in the time that it had to happen. So that’s now going to go today instead.” A total of 138,000 people from the UK have registered for assistance, the government said, with 112,000 of those in the UAE. About 1,000 have already returned on commercial flights, Keir Starmer has said. Two more chartered flights are expected to depart from the region this week to return stranded British nationals. Most of the Middle East has found itself drawn into war after the US and Israel attacked Iran a week ago. An intense campaign of strikes from the two powers and retaliatory missiles from Iran aimed at US infrastructure in the Middle East has brought the majority of the region into the conflict. This includes Dubai, the world’s biggest hub for air passenger traffic and a popular holiday destination for Britons seeking cheap luxury. The UAE city was hit with Iranian retaliatory missiles over the weekend, damaging the high-end hotels Fairmont the Palm and the Burj Al Arab, as well as the international airport. Alongside holidaymakers and those living in the Gulf, many people from the UK have found themselves stuck in unfamiliar countries during what was supposed to be a short layover in the Middle ...