A Dubai-based public relations executive’s solo trip to Bangkok for a concert turned into a four-day ordeal after she became stranded in Saudi Arabia following a Houthi attack on Riyadh airport.
Sunaira Sohail said she spent about 26 hours inside the airport terminal, witnessed a nearby explosion and eventually travelled overnight by bus to return to the UAE.
“I felt like the world was ending. I genuinely thought there was no way back,” Sohail told Khaleej Times after reaching the UAE.
She was queuing at a counter to update her boarding pass for her connecting flight to Bangkok when the missile struck the airport.
“It (the blast) literally happened right next to us. The impact was so huge that we were pushed to the left. When we looked to the right, the entire place was filled with smoke,” she recalled.
Alarms sounded after the explosion, but Sohail said passengers initially received little guidance from airport personnel. People screamed and cried as officials directed them towards the arrivals area.
Transit passengers without Saudi entry stamps feared they would not be allowed back into the airport. Phone networks and airport Wi-Fi also stopped working, leaving Sohail unable to contact her family in Dubai.
Repeated delays and limited assistance
Before leaving for her trip, Sohail had contacted the airline to check whether regional tensions would affect her journey. She was assured that the flight was operating as scheduled.
She arrived in Riyadh at 1.30am, with her onward flight due to depart at 2.30am. However, repeated delays disrupted her plans.
Passengers were eventually allowed to board the aircraft at around 10.30am and remained there for more than two hours before being told to disembark and return to the terminal.
Sohail said passengers went without accommodation, food and water for hours. She was later told that hotel accommodation was available only to passengers holding Saudi visas and would cost £140.
She and several other travellers took a free shuttle intended to transport stranded passengers to hotels. After spending around two hours visiting hotels that were fully booked, the driver dropped them near a metro station, she said.
The group eventually found an Airbnb about 15 minutes from the airport after police reportedly told them the airport would reopen the following day. It remained closed.
Luggage and travel problems
Sohail also struggled to recover her missing luggage and obtain documentation confirming her evacuation. She said the airline directed her to the airport, while airport staff told her to contact the airline.
Some of her friends travelled to Doha before taking connecting flights to the United Kingdom and the United States.
Sohail eventually obtained an urgent visa and boarded a bus departing Riyadh at 4pm. The journey brought her to Abu Dhabi at 9am the next day.
During the trip, she said, passengers received alerts about hostile threats and witnessed an aerial interception.
More than five days later, she said she had still not received her luggage or refunds.
“It was the complete opposite of what I had imagined for my first solo trip. But, thank God, I’m back in the UAE. And that’s the best part,” she said.
The disruption came amid intensified Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, with Khaleej Times reporting that more than 4,000 flights across the kingdom’s airports had been cancelled since October 8. Saudi authorities had announced that Riyadh airport would remain closed until October 17.
