A 26-year-old winemaker and a young yacht worker are among several South Africans trapped in the Middle East as military conflict engulfs the region. Jonelle Oberholzer found herself stranded at Doha Airport in Qatar after her connecting flight to Australia was cancelled on Saturday, while 20-year-old Christopher du Toit had to maintain composure aboard a yacht in Dubai's marina as full-scale war erupted around him. Both shared their accounts on Monday morning from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates respectively, describing missiles streaking across the skies above them over recent days.
Oberholzer had departed South Africa on Friday evening, bound for a three-month stint at a wine farm in the Barossa Valley. After a lengthy layover in Doha, she ventured into the city on Saturday morning before returning to the airport at midday for her Adelaide connection. Upon arrival, she and fellow travellers received an Arabic-language alert on their phones warning of potential missile strikes and urging people to take cover. "I asked someone at the airport what was going on and they just told me to keep calm," she recounted. Her flight was subsequently cancelled, and after her family translated the notice, she discovered through social media that missiles had indeed been launched in the vicinity.
Despite some passengers receiving hotel vouchers, Oberholzer said Qatar Airways ground staff repeatedly informed her that none was available, forcing her to spend the night in the terminal. By Sunday morning, at least 11 missile interceptions occurred in rapid succession near the airport, rattling the building's windows. "It sounds like a building being demolished. You kind of wonder what's going on. It's obviously something we're not used to at all," she said. With assistance from Theo de Jager van Saai, a family acquaintance, she contacted the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco), who advised her to remain at the airport and offered hotel recommendations. "I didn't really expect them to help me," Oberholzer admitted to media.
The airport was evacuated at one point on Sunday, and Oberholzer — along with a South African couple whose Singapore-to-South Africa flight had been cancelled and another compatriot heading to Dallas in the United States — was taken to the Hall of Celebration shelter. She described chaotic scenes as stranded passengers argued with staff through interpreters over hotel placements. "It looked like a show hall. At least we got food parcels there," she said. By late Sunday afternoon the group was moved to a hotel that had neither food nor Wi-Fi, before being relocated to a more comfortable establishment where they finally spent the night. "I slept like a baby last night. I was so grateful to be able to sleep in a bed again. It drains you quite a bit," Oberholzer said, adding that her family back home had been deeply distressed.
On Monday morning, Oberholzer said there was no immediate cause for alarm despite a fresh advisory instructing residents to remain indoors. Qatar Airways had yet to announce when flights would resume but was sending regular updates to passengers. "It's quiet now where I am. We last heard something in the air this morning at 08:00. But just when you think it's been quiet for a long time, something happens again," she noted, observing that people were moving about outside the hotel and deliveries were still being made.
In Dubai, Du Toit recounted how he was at sea with guests on Saturday evening when missiles rained down, all of which were intercepted. "But it was overwhelming. You don't immediately understand what's going on. Stuff falls out of the sky and you don't know where it's going to land," he said. Du Toit had arrived in Dubai three weeks earlier, with his girlfriend Ilze van der Westhuizen joining him a week ago. No vessels have left the marina since Saturday's attacks, with water police maintaining constant patrols. Speaking on behalf of himself and Van der Westhuizen on Monday, he expressed gratitude for their companionship amid the crisis. "The situation is overwhelming. This is not something we as South Africans know. This stuff does not happen in our country," he said, as fighter jets roared audibly overhead. "You hear them, but you don't see them. I hear them flying over now and it's definitely not an Emirates plane with passengers that I hear there."
