CHINA: A woman recently found herself in a situation that she never imagined she would be in, when, halfway through her long-haul flight between China and Dubai, the plane had to turn around and go back to the airport of origin for the sake of safety, because the United States and Israel had begun bombing Iran.
Ziying Zhou, a former banker who is now an etiquette specialist based in the United Kingdom, said in a video shared over Instagram that she had been in China with her parents for the Lunar New Year and was looking forward to flying to Dubai from Qingdao on Feb 28, leaving at 2:00 pm local time.
She said she was really excited to catch up with friends in Dubai, where she also had some work meetings lined up. Flights from Qingdao to Dubai usually take around 12.5 hours. However, four or five hours into the flight, the captain made an announcement, saying that it would no longer be safe to fly to Dubai and that the plane would return to Qingdao.
Feeling a sense of unreality, she called her parents to let them know what was happening. As the plane was scheduled to land at around 10 pm, she told them she would look for a hotel near the airport.
However, her 63-year-old father reassured her that no matter how late she arrived, he would still come and get her from the airport. She arrived home at about 1 am to find that her mother was still awake and would prepare food for them.
“The reason why I am telling you the story is because sometimes we think that war is something that is really far away from us, and that it is just something we read in the news, but it could be closer than you think, and just having shelter and having safety and security around you should not be taken for granted,” Ms Zhou said, expressing confidence in the government of the United Arab Emirates to protect those living in the country.
“I’m praying for everyone’s safety and for this violence to end. We all deserve to live in a world where we don’t have to live in fear,” she added in the caption to her post.
Her video appears to have gotten so much attention online, to the point that she was interviewed on CNN about what she experienced. /TISG
