First government-chartered flight evacuating Canadians from Middle East lands in Istanbul

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The first flight chartered by the federal government to evacuate Canadians from the Middle East landed in Istanbul early Sunday, though with only half the number of Canadian passengers it could carry.

The flight from Dubai had room for 180 passengers but departed with 93 Canadians on board, according to figures provided by Global Affairs Canada on Sunday. Any seats not used by Canadians were offered to others, the department said.

The Middle East war began on Feb. 28 when the United States and Israel jointly struck Iran, killing the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The conflict has since spread across the region, with Iran retaliating with strikes on U.S. military bases and allies in more than a dozen countries, including Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

Since Wednesday, Global Affairs has also block-booked seats on six flights, transporting roughly 213 Canadians from Beirut to Istanbul, and 51 from Dubai to Toronto.

For Iranian students and faculty in Canada, renewed conflict brings mix of fear and hope

Ground transportation has moved 76 Canadians from Qatar to Saudi Arabia and 25 from Israel to Egypt since Saturday. Another 23 Canadians are known to have left Iran via land crossings into Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, and 150 from Israel to Egypt.

Consular officials have been deployed near Iranian border crossings to help Canadians with visa requirements and onward travel plans.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Sunday that nearly 110,000 Canadians had registered through the federal government’s voluntary Registration of Canadians Abroad program, including 5,267 who are seeking assistance to depart the region.

Of those, most – 2,668 – are in the United Arab Emirates, followed by 1,077 in Qatar, according to figures provided by Global Affairs.

“We are exploring all efforts to ensure that Canadians who wish to leave are able to do so safely, and swiftly,” Ms. Anand said in a statement.

Global Affairs said it is exploring additional ground transportation options but noted risks with overhead missiles and falling debris. The department said it is not aware of any Canadians who have been injured or killed because of the hostilities.

Middle East Airlines is still flying out of Beirut, to the sound of gunfire

Camille Brown and her family were among those who arrived in Toronto from Dubai on Saturday on an Emirates flight on which Ottawa had block-booked seats. The Toronto resident, who lives part-time in Dubai, said her family lives near an airbase that was frequently targeted by strikes.

“It was just really traumatizing,” she said. “You could hear it. You could feel it. The house was shaking. [It was] the scariest thing I’ve ever been through.”

Ms. Brown described panic and anxiety as she tried to keep her family safe in the first few days of the conflict, saying one day she was at the beach with her children, and the next day it was “chaos.”

“We all slept downstairs in the living room, away from windows,” she said.

Bob and Barb McBean arrived in Toronto and were connecting on to Kelowna, B.C. The couple been staying at a hotel on the Palm Jumeirah, a famous man-made island off the coast of Dubai, when the war broke out on Feb. 28. They described hearing explosions overhead daily as the UAE government shot down Iranian missiles and drones.

“We did see when the missiles got intercepted,” Mr. McBean said. “They’d blow up right in front of your face. You could see them out over the water.”

Ms. McBean said it felt like “COVID all over again” as traffic in Dubai screeched to a halt with residents being told to shelter indoors.

“It was quite nerve-racking because all of a sudden your phone would get these loud alerts saying get covered, go down to basements, get away from windows, and this was going on day and night,” she said. “It was scary for everybody.”

With a report from The Canadian Press