00:01It was tears, cheers and an enormous outpouring of relief for those around 200 passengers
00:09on board Emirates Flight 414 that touched down from Dubai at about 10.30pm last night
00:15here at Sydney International Airport.
00:17In fact, such was that feeling of relief that passengers say that the pilots and the crew
00:23were applauded the minute the plane touched the tarmac.
00:27It was a very similar scene when those 200-odd passengers made their way through the arrival
00:33gates last night.
00:34They were greeted by their friends and their family.
00:37It had obviously been an incredibly anxious wait, not just for those who had been effectively
00:42stranded in the Middle East since the conflict broke out, but certainly for their families
00:48here in Australia.
00:49Now, amongst those 200-odd passengers were 19 students from Barker College in Sydney.
00:54They were intending on heading to a robotics competition in Turkey.
00:59They were supposed to only be in Dubai for a brief stopover and had effectively been stranded
01:04ever since.
01:05They were met at the airport last night by their principal.
01:08We also saw a number of families, expats in particular, who had been living in Dubai.
01:14They really described, first of all, the fear and anxiety that they'd been feeling over the
01:19last few days, particularly hearing intercepted missiles crashing and explosions over their
01:26homes.
01:27But also that anxious wait for that golden ticket back to Australia.
01:31Certainly the first flight back to Australian shores.
01:34But as we've heard from the Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, this morning, there are certainly
01:38more on the way.
01:40But let's take a quick listen to what some of those lucky travellers had to tell us last
01:44night.
01:46It is absolutely good to be home.
01:49Especially the actual first flight out of Dubai straight to here was fantastic.
01:53So, yeah, 2am was worth it.
01:54My husband's still there.
01:56I've got, like, our dogs, our home stuff's over there.
01:58So it's just, it's a weird, it's a weird feeling.
02:02So we've heard from the government this morning, they're expecting three flights to leave Dubai
02:07and Abu Dhabi this morning, carrying more Australians homeward bound.
02:13There are around 115,000 Australians who are still stranded in the Middle East.
02:18We understand DFAT have sent six crisis teams in order to help repatriate and evacuate more
02:25Australians.
02:26So certainly a mammoth task ahead for the federal government.
02:30So, the opening of the federal government is at work.
02:31This situation situation situation situation situation situation situation situation situation
02:32requirement for the government to take place in the investor ,
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