'Total shambles': Passenger hits out at delayed UK charter flight from Middle East - as minister responds

A British passenger who was set to leave the Middle East on a plane chartered by the government has described the situation on the ground as a "total shambles".

The flight to evacuate Britons stuck in the region due to the Iran war was scheduled to depart Muscat in Oman at 11pm local time on Wednesday.

However, it never took off due to "technical issues" and the passenger - who wished to remain anonymous - said people were having "panic attacks".

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They told Sky News: "[The] check-in process took about four hours due to technical issues. We then got taken to the plane on a bus but had to stay on it for about one-and-a-half hours.

"No consular staff were present airside. They just left us. People started getting very agitated, banging windows, panic attacks.

"There are dozens and dozens of vulnerable people, young children and families."

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "The UK government charter flight was not able to depart from Oman yesterday as planned due to technical issues. The flight is now expected to depart later today."

People who were due on the flight were taken back to a hotel.

The passenger told Sky News they had been told that "due to slow check-in and delays, the pilot had clocked his hours so needed to rest".

"We have been told the plane will take off later today [Thursday] once the pilot has rested," they added.

"The stress this has caused these vulnerable people is incredibly serious."

Border security minister Alex Norris told Sky's Sophy Ridge on Mornings: "There have been a number of commercial flights that have gone yesterday. We have chartered a flight out of Oman that wasn't able to leave last night for operational reasons.

"We expect that to be leaving today, we expect there to be multiple more flights following that.

"So I know people are feeling stressed, our people are on the ground, including at the airport, helping them support them through that.

"We've helped them make sure they've found hotel rooms that we paid for to support them through that process. I know it's frustrating, but these things obviously are fast moving and do take a little time to stand up."

Planes chartered by other European governments have already brought home some of their citizens.

A German Lufthansa plane from Oman laned in Frankfurt early this morning, while a Spanish flight touched down in Madrid.

Air traffic in the Middle East has been thrown into chaos by Iran firing drones and missiles at US bases in the region in retaliation for attacks on its country.

However, some commercial flights are now operating and the prime minister said more than 1,000 Britons had now managed to get home.

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British Airways is among those that have been able to restart a few flights back to the UK. Its service from Muscat in Oman landed at Heathrow shortly after 8am.

Emirates flights from Dubai also arrived at Heathrow and Manchester this morning.

Muscat has emerged as a key location for people trying to leave the Middle East - it can be reached by road from both Dubai and Abu Dhabi with journeys of about 300 miles (482km).

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