Malaga residents stranded in the Middle East share uncertainty and mutual support
SUR has spoken to four groups of tourists in different parts of Asia, who are still unsure when they will be able to return home
DOZENS of Malaga residents remain stranded across the Middle East and Asia following the closure of major flight corridors due to the escalating conflict between the US, Israel, and Iran.
As of Tuesday, March 3, 2026, at least four distinct groups of holidaymakers from the Costa del Sol have reported being unable to secure return flights.
Impacted travellers include families with young children currently located in Thailand, Oman, the UAE, and Dubai.
Only a few flights might be able to depart from Dubai on Wednesday afternoon, but there has been no announcement regarding flights from Qatar. Emirates airline Etihad announced it was resuming flights, but also had to cancel.
Four families with children in Thailand
Juan Manuel Martín is one of the Malaga residents SUR has been able to contact. His and three other families are still in Thailand, after taking advantage of the school break last week to have a holiday. They are a total of 25 people, 13 of them children between the ages of seven and 13.
"Our situation is one of uncertainty. The only way to contact Qatar Airways is through the website or the app. It is impossible by phone. The app tells us that we are on time and as we have to check in tomorrow [Tuesday], we will see what happens," Martín said from Bangkok.
The challenge to their return comes from fact that they have a connecting flight from Doha (the capital of Qatar). "We are waiting to see what they tell us at the airport in person."
Stranded in Sarja from the Maldives
Ana Blanco is currently in Sarja (the UAE), on her way back from the Maldives. She was supposed to fly to Milan and then Malaga.
"We were surprised to find ourselves waiting at the airport. They started telling us first separately and then over the loudspeakers that the airport was closing because all flights had been cancelled due to the war and the closure of airspace. Everyone was calm at first. We didn't know much. Some of us laughed, others started to worry," she told SUR.
"Suddenly, the airport security came to look for us and told us to follow them, because we had to leave the airport quickly. We saw how only the foreigners were leaving, while they were staying inside. We were a bit scared, to be honest," Blanco said.
She explained how the security would talk to them in English, but then they would also whisper between themselves, which increased the level of anxiety for the foreigners.
After waiting for two hours to be taken to a hotel, they were told that they were going to take buses. There were around 1,000 people waiting, some of them pushing and shoving each other to get on the first bus. Blanco then saw how more people started coming and the crowd became more nervous.
Among her travel companions is a seven-year-old girl, which is why they got scared when people started pushing each other. "We didn't want to get separated. I didn't have a mobile phone with me because it got damaged by water during my trip to the Maldives, so I had no way of contacting my companions," she said.
"We began to feel anxious. It was horrible (...) nobody really told us what was going on," Blanco told SUR.
It took four hours for the seven members of the group to get on a bus together. "We arrived at the hotel, they gave us a large room for four and another room for three people. The hotel was fantastic, but in the morning, when we got up, we started to see explosions. The news we were receiving was not good and we started to have anxiety attacks. We started to call our relatives to say goodbye and it was a very hard time because the consulate only told us to stay away from the windows, to send a WhatsApp with our names and phone numbers," Blanco said, adding that the consulate also didn't have enough information about what was happening.
Without luggage and a return date in Oman
Cristian Hidalgo is with another group of Malaga residents in Oman. Their departure point was Sri Lanka, where they had a holiday.
"We were lucky because we know that things are worse in Dubai and Doha. Here, when we arrived, the company put us in a very good hotel, all included, and the embassy has been contacting us," he said.
"We are all well, I want to reassure the families. The only thing is that we don't have our bags because the airport is full and we don't know how the company is going to get us back to Malaga."
The Vélez-Málaga group is still in Dubai
SUR has also been in touch since Monday with the 27 people from Vélez-Málaga that are still in Dubai. They are also waiting for more information about a possible return flight.
