By Lesley Walsh
A BANGOR couple who were hoping for a dream holiday in Dubai ended up in a week-long nightmare after the war in the Middle East broke out on the day they arrived.
Catherine and Roger Crawford had been looking forward to relaxation and a bit of luxury in the jewel of the United Arab Emirates, but instead were locked down in their hotel and warned to stay indoors for their own safety, as an endless roar of thundering fighter jets tore through the skies above them.
The 49 year-old couple had booked The W Dubai on the Palm to enjoy its all-inclusive facilities – its pools, bars and restaurants – and a bit of shopping and strolling along its marina at sunset.
But when they arrived in Dubai from Dublin, on the morning of Saturday, February 28, the first they heard of the brewing trouble was in a panicked phone call from Catherine’s worried mother Diane, back in Bangor.
“We got there early in the morning, the day it all started and we’d heard that flights were suspended but we sort of ignored it and went up to one of the rooftop bars for brunch. Everything was normal and there was a DJ and it was packed and people were dancing and having a great time,” Catherine told the Spectator.
But then a loud and frightening noise tore through the skies over the city.
“We could see something on fire in the distance and everybody was like ‘what the hell is that?’ and everything stopped, and they were taking pictures, but then things carried on for a bit.”
Catherine later learned that a nearby hotel, the Fairmont on the Palm, had been struck by a drone, just a couple of miles away on the man-made archipelago shaped like a palm tree, where their W Dubai hotel was also located. She also learned that three more missiles went over one of her hotel’s restaurants also on that day, causing fear and panic among patrons.
It wasn’t until a few hours later that everything truly changed and the Crawfords’ plans of a chilled holiday ended then and there.
“When the music stopped about 8pm there were three missiles fired over the rooftop bar, and then there was a lot of screaming and people were in disbelief and the staff were trying to get everyone inside off the rooftop. At that stage, everyone was scared and didn’t know what was going on. But that was OK and we all just were going off to bed and it wasn’t too bad.
“But then about midnight we got the SOS alert and to be wakened from your sleep to that was really frightening. I was so scared; I couldn’t even go to the toilet – I was afraid to move.”
A couple of hours later, Catherine’s mum rang again to see how her daughter was getting on in what was rapidly becoming a war zone, as Diane learned as she awoke to the breaking news at home in Bangor at around 6am.
Trying to get back to sleep, Catherine, who works for Q Radio, said she turned to Roger, a NI Water consultant, and said ‘this is getting serious’.
“You were just afraid something would come in through the window, and panic slipped in then,” she continued.
For the next couple of days, the hotel’s bars and restaurants and pools all closed. Security staff were placed on the exits and guests were prevented from leaving the hotel for their own safety.
“We were left sitting in reception with other guests just looking at each other. It was horrific,” she said, then learning that other guests due to go home that weekend and the following Monday and Tuesday, were facing cancelled flights and expensive bills to rebook rooms at the hotel.
They were the only couple they were aware of from Northern Ireland staying at the hotel at the time, and by Wednesday, the hotel restrictions
began to ease somewhat, with the pool reopening, though the eateries stayed shut.
“We had been hoping to enjoy the all-inclusive experience but we had canteen food,” Catherine revealed. “It was nobody’s fault, of course and the hotel staff were really good though they didn’t know how to guide us; they didn’t know what was going on either.”
Though hotel guests were then allowed outdoors ‘they looked at you as if to ask, “are you mental” if you were going out’, so she and Roger stayed indoors, venturing only as far as the pool, ‘but you were on your guard the whole time’.
But there was no escaping the conflict that continued to rain hellfire over the wider Gulf region as Iran and the US failed to prevent the spread of their conflict.
“The fighter jets were flying all over all day, and that was panicking and that was constant, day and night,” Catherine reported.
When it was time to go home, last Friday, ‘we felt we were among the lucky ones because our flight was getting away and on schedule’.
Leaving the airport, which had also suffered battle damage and was only partially open on their departure, the Crawfords experienced another novel twist as they left the UAE.
“There were fighter jets which followed our Emirates flight to Dublin, for a bit, and that was quite reassuring,” she said.
Finally back home in Bangor, Catherine admits she and her husband feel a bit shellshocked and worn out by their harrowing experience, and as if they’ve been ‘run over’.
For her next holiday, Catherine said she’ll be sticking to the ‘plenty of nice places in Europe’ to visit for the foreseeable future.
“It’s safe to say I won’t be going to the Middle East again.”
