'Lockdown with missiles'

Friends tell of epic escape home from conflict after plane halted

- BY JEREMY ARMSTRONG

DEFIANT UK holidaymakers told of their decision to stay in the Middle East as the missile strikes devastate tourism.

A mother and daughter from Falmouth in Cornwall elected to remain in Muscat, Oman. They enjoyed sunbathing by the pool of the Crown Plaza Hotel before their flight home yesterday.

Bella, 33, said: "It is surreal. We have been on a dream holiday and a tour of Muscat for eight days, and this is the end of our break, staying in the hotel.

"We feel so sorry for the locals. Our guide kept taking calls from people who were cancelling trips. It is their livelihoods, and yet it has nothing to do with them."

Virginia, a retired scuba diving instructor, added: "I decided to let them sort all this out while I'm lying on my sunbed. We had our flights booked and we decided we would stick with that."

DESERTS

The pair did not want to give their full names before they were back home.

The great escape from the Middle East has involved stories of Brits making their way across deserts to board flights home.

One British couple was forced to sleep at the main international airport in Oman for three nights because they had run out of money and could not afford a hotel.

Three teenagers, two aged 16, and another aged 19, were on their first holiday abroad in Dubai when the war broke out.

They fled to Bahrain, then Oman, to get a UK government repatriation flight.

With the main airlines reopening flights to the UK, there are no plans for further government charter flights.

A UK foreign office spokesman said British nationals should follow their travel advice for each country that is affected.

As of Monday, 168,000 Brits had registered their presence across Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.