Скачать или смотреть First group of Bosnians evacuated from the Middle East arrive in Sarajevo

(5 Mar 2026)

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina - 05 March 2026
1.⁠ ⁠Families awaiting flight arrival
2.⁠ ⁠Screen showing arrival from Dubai
3.⁠ ⁠People coming through the gate
4.⁠ ⁠Woman hugging her relative
5. Various of people arriving through gate
6.⁠ ⁠SOUNDBITE (Bosnian) Refik Merseli, from Sarajevo, working in Dubai:
"As our flights were cancelled, we were placed in some sort of a camp not far away from the airport (Dubai). This is about 10 minutes drive from the airport and rockets were falling around - we were so close to that. The hits were really loud, and alarms went off.”
7.⁠ ⁠Families hugging their relatives as they arrive
8.⁠ ⁠SOUNDBITE (Bosnian) Samra Menzilovic, Sarajevo resident who was visiting Dubai as tourist:
"Oh yes, we saw it all, especially at night , in the sky, then we heard it all. We heard the fragments of the rockets falling onto that hotel, we heard that well, there was panic all over the place. That night I remember it well. We received SMS messages to go inside if we were outside, and get away from the windows. That was the main trigger for the panic among the people. There were lot of foreigners who never saw that before, so it was their first experience (smiling - referring to the war in Sarajevo that she survived, when city was bombed for nearly 4 years).”
9.⁠ Bosnians arriving
10.⁠ ⁠SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Vera Stevanovic, from Banja Luka, working in Dubai:
“It was not pleasant at all. We, coming from this area, we know it all well. Simply just hearing these sounds (of rockets flying) , its not pleasant.“
11.⁠ ⁠Families hugging their relatives
STORYLINE:
The first group of Bosnians who had been stranded in the Middle East since the start of war, arrived Thursday in Sarajevo on a civilian flight from Dubai.

Tourists and other residents of Bosnia and a few other countries who were caught up in Dubai and Abu Dhabi said they were happy to arrive in Sarajevo, as their families greeted them with tears and hugs at the airport.

Some of the 156 people on board the evacuation flight were also survivors of Bosnian war from the 1990’s and said the sights and sounds of flying rockets revived bad memories.

“It was not pleasant at all. We, coming from this area, we know it all well. Simply just hearing these sounds (of rockets flying) , its not pleasant," said Vera Stevanovic, from Banja Luka, working in Dubai.

Bosnia's ambassador to the United Arab Emirates said there would be more evacuation flights in the coming days, as the foreign ministry was facilitating and financing commercial flights from Dubai airport.

According to the ambassador, some 1,000 Bosnians have expressed their wish to leave the Gulf states where they reside.

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