Stranded French travellers make it back home amid war in the Middle East скачать в хорошем качестве

Stranded French travellers make it back home amid war in the Middle East

(4 Mar 2026) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Roissy, France – 4 March 2026 1. Various of French travellers hugging and kissing their relatives at Paris airport 2. Passenger Henri Le Menestrel walking through gates into terminal 3. SOUNDBITE (French) Henri Le Menestrel, passenger who traveled from Dubai: "Over there, frankly, it was quite relaxed, apart from the sounds of missiles or the noise of planes, the fighter jets flying overhead, which was a bit frightening. But, well, we told ourselves that when we heard that out of the 800 drones that had been sent, almost all had been destroyed, it was quite reassuring." 4. Pan of greeters holding signs at Roissy Airport for Dubai arrivals 5. Flight information board showing arrival from Dubai and other locations 6. Passengers walking into terminal 7. SOUNDBITE (French) Céline Begue, passenger who traveled from Dubai: "Actually, it was really very stressful and my son might have taken it more lightly, but actually, we were really aware of what was happening and at that point we were no longer safe at all, and we were just eager to find a return flight. And when we were told that the airspace was going to be closed, we thought, well, we don't know how long we're going to have to stay there and what's going to happen." 8. Passengers walking through gates to terminal 9. Close of terminal signs 10. SOUNDBITE (French) Cécile Mansuy, passenger who traveled from Dubai: "We had only one missile alert and we took shelter in the basement, but there is an incredible air defense system. In fact, you feel very safe. All the pictures we were seeing online worried our families here, but not there. People are dining in the streets. So, there's no need to worry for people in Dubai, it's fine. Even though there is tension and we are cautious. Honestly, the air defense is incredible, so there is debris falling and you have to be careful, but it's not like the images we see on the internet, that's not the case." 11. Passengers walking inside terminal 12. Police inside terminal 13 . SOUNDBITE (French) Johan Benamara, passenger who traveled from Dubai: "It was hell. It was three days of sleeping in parking lots because nothing, no one was answering the phone, the embassy was unavailable – we managed on our own. There you go. We looked on search engines, Google, Kayak (online travel agency), JetCost to find a ticket, travel agencies. I had to manage to find solutions, going to Oman and turning back because there was nowhere to go and there were no tickets for us. And finally, we managed to find tickets yesterday. We booked them and we came back and we're really happy to be here." 14. Various of passengers inside Roissy arrivals terminal STORYLINE: Dozens of French travelers who were stranded in the Middle East landed in Paris on Wednesday as travel across the region remained heavily disrupted by the widening Iran war. Amongst the lucky few who managed to secure a ticket on board the A380 operated by carrier Emirates, Johan Benamara told The Associated Press he had received little help from French authorities as he scanned the internet for available seats. "It was hell," he lamented alongside his relatives, as he pushed his trolley through the Paris arrivals terminal. "It was three days of sleeping in parking lots because nothing, no one was answering the phone, the embassy was unavailable – we managed on our own." With airspace closed or heavily restricted across much of the Gulf, passengers have been stranded not only in the region but also in cities far from the fighting after their connecting flights were canceled. 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...