'We just want to get home' says Roscommon mother stranded in Dubai
Smoke rises after an Iranian drone attack in the port area of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, March 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
A County Roscommon woman and her friends are stranded in Dubai following the outbreak of hostilities between the US and Iran over the weekend.
Speaking on The Claire Byrne Show on NewsTalk, mother of two Nicola Hanlon said she is sheltering in place, as per the advice, and waiting on a flight home.
“Well we’ve been better,” she said when Claire asked how she was. “The situation is intense, we can see the missiles being intercepted over our heads. We can hear loud noises and smoke in the distance.”
She said that there are times of quietness, lulling people into a false sense of security “and then it starts all over again”.
She explained that she and four of her best friends were visiting Dubai on a trip, landing on Thursday morning and were due to leave this afternoon at 2pm.
“We planned it last year, a four day trip, as we were all turning 40 in the one year. Our babies were over the one year mark, and we’d be well able to leave them,” she said. “Now we can’t get out.”
Nicola told the presenter that her party had been rebooked twice for a return home, but a travel agent is actively working on their behalf.
“As it stands at the minute, we have been cancelled on two flights, we’re on the 2.10 on Wednesday night, and that’s depending on the airspace opening,” she said. “We just want to get home to our families. It is so upsetting. For five women who are from Roscommon, to see and witness what we are witnessing. When you have never been in this situation before and you've no date or time to get home, it is so concerning.”
She described the atmosphere there as “very weird and extremely intense”.
“No one is really talking to each other, and there’s nothing coming from the hotel. They’re saying it’s all very safe and fine, but on Saturday night we all got alarms to our phones saying ‘take shelter there’s missiles incoming’. We ran to the lobby, we were there until 6am because we didn’t know where to go and what to do.”
During the lulls, the group could be sitting laughing together, “and the next minute there’s tears running down our faces because you can see missiles being intercepted above your head”.
“I have two babies. Kate is two on Wednesday. I have a three year old,” an emotional Nicola said. “Our kids are all ranging between one and five.”
She added that the group are in constant contact with their families in Ireland, and asked for the government to help them to return home.
