Passengers landing in Paris from Dubai recount fear and unease amid Middle East conflict

Описание: (5 Mar 2026)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Roissy, France – 5 March 2026
1. Various of Emirates passengers back from Dubai hugging relatives at Paris airport
2. Paris resident Philipp Kozin walking through terminal with suitcase
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Philipp Kozin, Paris resident:
"That was not as bad as I think as you have heard in the media because, well, there were definitely some explosions and people were scared, right, so several drones arrived, but in fact the government of United Arab Emirates really took care of people. They, for example, for the tourists, they paid, they extended their stay in the hotels and they paid for all the tourists' accommodation, but also the food. And so basically my flight was delayed, I think 2 days, so not, not a lot, right? So I'm thankful for that."
4. Various of passengers at arrivals terminal
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Raya Roulef, passenger in transit:
"Yeah, I saw the bomb and I saw the drones and everything. I saw it was closed from my window. It's horrible. It's horrible."
6. Various of passengers arriving
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Christian Torres, American student:
"Right as we got there we were one of the last planes to land and so when I got to the hotel, I saw the speech that Trump was giving about all that and and so when I got there, that was the first thing I saw. And then that night we got the alert, the missile alert, and the Palm was hit, the Fairmont was hit. Came to trust the defence systems a little bit, but the longer I was there, the more uneasy I kind of felt and then when the consulate was hit, then I said I have to buy whatever ticket I can."
8. Various of travellers in terminal
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Christian Torres, American student:
"The first night I was afraid of the missiles, right? After that, it was more my wife is at home and she's upset and my family's upset and I'm trying to sound like I got everything under control and, you know, trying not to tell them everything that's happening. That's what was hard for me was knowing that my wife was at home and she didn't have anybody and and she wanted me so that was really my motivation to get out."
10. Various shots inside terminal
STORYLINE:
Passengers of a Emirates flight which landed in France Thursday shared firsthand accounts of being stranded in the Middle East amid flight cancellations and airspace closures.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been stranded across the Middle East amid the U.S. and Israel’s joint war against Iran.

And between swaths of flight cancellations and airspace closures, many are still scrambling for next steps.

Some of the lucky ones to escape landed in Paris on Thursday after, sometimes miraculously, securing a ticket on board carrier Emirates' only flight today.

Christian Torres, an American student at the University of Georgetown in Washington, DC., bought 5 tickets to different destinations in the hopes of leaving the region as soon as possible.

"I came to trust the defense systems a little bit, but the longer I was there, the more uneasy I kind of felt and then when the consulate was hit, then I said I have to buy whatever ticket I can," Torres told The Associated Press.

Philipp Kozin, a Paris resident on the flight, praised the UAE government for their support, saying it "really took care of people," and in some cases paid for tourists' extended hotel stays and food when flights were canceled.


Despite ongoing evacuation efforts, flights remain deeply disrupted.

Many tourists, business travelers, migrant workers and others are navigating it all.




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