Middle East war: repatriation flights starting to bring stranded Britons home
More flights to rescue Britons stranded in the Middle East have been announced, with around 1,000 people having already been repatriated with war raging.
Sir Keir Starmer said two further Government-chartered flights will take off from Oman “in the coming days” during Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday.
It comes as Iran continued to launch attacks at countries across the region, with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait targeted with missiles and drones.
British Airways announced it will operate two more flights between the capital Muscat and London Heathrow, on Friday and Saturday, which are fully booked.
The first Government rescue flight and British Airways commercial flight from Muscat departed last night.
The airline said: “We will continue to review the situation and if we are able to, we will add additional services.”
Sir Keir told MPs more than 1,000 British nationals arrived back in the UK on commercial flights from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday. Eight more UK flights were scheduled to leave the UAE on Wednesday.
There is not expected to be a widespread evacuation of the 138,000 British nationals who have registered their presence in the Middle East.
Some commercial flights are operating from Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE but the vast majority are cancelled because of airspace restrictions caused by the conflict between Iran and the US and its allies.
Muscat, the capital of Oman, has emerged as a key location for people to leave the Middle East.
The Foreign Office does not advise against travel to the airport, unlike the current advice for airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.
Travel advice from the UK’s Foreign Office states: “There are a limited number of commercial options available, including by air from UAE and from Oman.
“If your presence in UAE is not essential, you may wish to consider departing – if you judge you can access these options safely.”
Oman Air has continued to operate its two daily return flights between Muscat and Heathrow despite the war.
Israel and the US intensified their bombing campaign against the Iranian military, with a warship sunk by a US torpedo off the coast of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka’s navy said it recovered 87 bodies and rescued 32 people.
The Iranian vessel that was sunk in the Indian Ocean was the Islamic Republic’s “prize ship”, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said at a Pentagon news briefing.
Mr Hegseth said it was the first sinking of an enemy ship with a torpedo by the US since the Second World War.
“An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters,” he said. “Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo.” The Pentagon released footage of the missile strike.
Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Vijitha Herath told Parliament that its navy received information that the Iris Dena, with 180 people on board, was in distress and sinking.
The island nation sent ships and air force planes on a rescue mission, he said.
Navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said by the time navy ships reached the location, there was no sign of the ship and “there were only some oil patches and life rafts. We found people floating on the water”.
He said the 32 people rescued were admitted to a hospital in the seaside town of Galle on Sri Lanka’s southern coast.
The bodies recovered were being brought to land, he said.
Dr Anil Jasinghe, a top health ministry official, said one of those rescued is in critical condition, seven are receiving emergency treatment and others are being treated for minor injuries.
The Iris Dena — one of Iran’s newest warships — is a Moudge-class frigate that patrols in deep water for the Iranian navy.
It is armed with heavy guns, surface-to-air missiles, anti-ship missiles and torpedoes. It also carries one helicopter.
The frigate was the centrepiece of a two-ship international tour in 2023 that included port calls in countries including South Africa and Brazil.
It was accompanied by the support ship Iris Makran, a converted oil tanker.
The US Treasury Department included both ships on a sanctions designation in February 2023 along with eight executives of an Iranian drone manufacturer that supplied the weapons to Russia for use against civilian targets in Ukraine.
At least 17 Iranian naval vessels have been sunk during the ongoing war, said US Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads the American military’s Central Command.
“We are also sinking the Iranian navy — the entire navy,” he said in a video message.