South Florida natives are still trying to get out of the Middle East, feeling “abandoned” by U.S. officials
As the U.S. Department of State urges Americans to leave the Middle East, South Floridians stranded overseas say they are scrambling to find their way home.
CBS News Miami’s Nikiya Carrero spoke in Doral with residents trying to navigate an increasingly uncertain travel situation.
One man traveled more than eight hours from Jerusalem into Egypt in an effort to make it back to Miami. Another woman in Dubai said concerns from her family in South Florida influenced her decision to return sooner than planned. Both described the situation with flights as fluid and constantly changing.
“It was a very scary process to try and figure all this out on your own,” said Scott Wayne, who lives in Aventura.
CBS News Miami spoke with Wayne Tuesday, moments after he said he heard missiles near his hotel in Jerusalem.
The following day, he hired a driver to take him from his hotel to the Israel-Egypt border. He said he crossed the border on foot with his cane before taking a taxi to a hotel in Sharm el-Sheikh. Wayne said the trip took between eight and nine hours.
“I feel like they totally abandoned the U.S. citizens that were stuck in Israel and probably other Middle Eastern countries,” Wayne said.
Before arranging his own travel, Wayne said he called phone numbers provided by the State Department and reached a woman who answered.
“She was in the southeast part of the United States, and she said, ‘What do you want me to do? I have no information,'” Wayne said. “I got her three times on one day.”
Part-time Weston resident Nida Siddiq is also trying to return home, this time from Dubai.
“We have been getting phone calls from my mom, my dad, my sister, my sister-in-law. And then like every few hours they’re checking in like, ‘Did you hear something? Did you hear something? Did you hear about? Did you hear this,'” Siddiq said. “And we’re constantly having to reassure them that we’re OK. We’re fine.”
Siddiq said she and her family are looking to return earlier than their original plan of March 12.
“We’re trying to head back a bit earlier if we possibly can, but because of the airspace closure, we’re not able to get flights just yet,” she said. “So we have booked one or two flights to see whenever the airspace opens up, we’ll make our way back to Miami.”
Wayne said that after leaving Israel and arriving in Egypt, he feels his journey home is far from over.
The State Department said it has helped 6,500 Americans leave the Middle East and will continue to do so.
