American woman speaks out after escaping Middle East amid Iran war
An American woman is speaking out after escaping the Middle East as the war in Iran intensifies and reverberates across the region, leaving thousands of U.S. citizens across 14 countries scrambling to leave.
Sarah Mative of Nashville, Tennessee, landed in Hong Kong on Wednesday, arriving on a flight that managed to take off from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
"So relieved," Mative told ABC News' Britt Clennett of how she felt getting out of the region. "I don't want Dubai to get a bad name. It's unfortunate they were involved, but so relieved."
The U.S. State Department has set a Level 3 travel advisory for the UAE, urging Americans to "reconsider travel" to the country "due to the threat of armed conflict and terrorism," and has ordered non-essential government staff and their families to leave as well.
Mative said she and her husband were on a trip to celebrate their 20th anniversary and tried for four days to get a flight home to their three children. She said they called the U.S. State Department helpline for assistance but received "zero help."
"We called the number, and they said, 'Sorry, there's nothing we can do,'" Mative said. "It's very disappointing, extremely disappointing that the State Department gave us zero help."
The United Arab Emirates is one of the several countries the U.S. is advising Americans to leave immediately. Others include Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Mative said she and her husband now plan to catch a flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco and then another flight from San Francisco to Nashville.
The State Department says it is working around the clock to arrange charter flights for Americans wishing to leave the Middle East. The federal agency said the department has assisted more than 10,000 citizens in the region so far, that the first charter flight has since departed, and that more were expected to leave Thursday.
Many, however, are still racing to arrange travel back home. Numerous commercial flights out of the region have been canceled and the few that are still operating are hard to come by.
Blaga Trankaroff said she and her husband are still trying to secure a flight but haven't been able to find any available seats yet.
"Honestly, at this point, I'm really starting to lose hope that we'll be home soon," Trankaroff told ABC News.
