Romanian tourists recount their experience as they return from Israel via Cairo

Описание: (3 Mar 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bucharest, Romania - 3 March 2026
1. Various of arrival board at Bucharest Otopeni Airport, flights from Tel Aviv, Doha and Dubai cancelled
2. Various of passengers arriving from Cairo flight
3. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Mariana Muicaru, tourist returned from Middle East:
“We were very scared, we called our children at 3am to ask forgiveness because we might die and to tell them we love them and to let them know that it's over for us. There was nothing left for us to do. But they (Romanian authorities) didn’t care at all. We're home now, our legs shaking, hands and all, and no money left at all in our pockets.”
4. Passengers in terminal
5. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Mihai (last name unavailable), tourist returned from Middle East:
“In the evening, every other hour, we could see rockets flying in the sky, it was terrible. We could hear the bangs, the hotel would tremble with us. We're upset that no one came to take us out of there, we bought our own flights back home.”
6. Passengers arriving from Cairo
7. SOUNDBITE (Romanian) Gabriel Bucean, tourist returned from Middle East:
“All the return costs were payed by travel agencies and by tourists themselves. The only help we had from the Romanian state was that the consul came to lead us from the Israel-Egypt border to Cairo and then to the airport, but that was about it. Everything they said on internet and in the media that the state helped us and facilitated the trip back is totally untrue.”
8. Passengers arriving
9. Arrival board, Cairo flight landed at 02:05 Romanian time
STORYLINE:
Romanian tourists returned to Bucharest from Israel via Cairo early on Tuesday, amid the conflict in the Middle East.

On a flight operated by airline Tarom, passengers arrived at Bucharest's Otopeni Airport after travelling from Israel to Cairo, expressing frustration and fear.

“We were very scared, we called our children at 3am to ask forgiveness because we might die and to tell them we love them and to let them know that it's over for us," said Romanian tourist Mariana Muicaru.

"They (Romanian authorities) didn’t care at all. We're home now, our legs shaking, hands and all, and no money left at all in our pockets," added Muicaru.

Romanian tourist Gabriel Bucean also voiced his frustrations.

“All the return costs were payed by travel agencies and by tourists themselves," said Bucean.

"The only help we had from the Romanian state was that the consul came to lead us from the Israel-Egypt border to Cairo and then to the airport, but that was about it."

Hundred of pilgrims led by Romanian priests were visiting Bethlehem when the war broke in the region between Israel-US and Iran.

As the war in the Middle East spirals further, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that the U.S. has “the capability to go far longer ” than its projected four-to-five-week time frame for its military operations against Iran.

The U.S. and Israel have continued to pound Iran since killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday, while Tehran and its allies have hit back against Israel, neighboring Gulf states, and targets critical to the world’s production of oil and natural gas.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said at least 555 people have been killed in Iran so far by the U.S.-Israeli campaign.

AP video and production by Nick Dumitrache

===========================================================


Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...