Passengers touching down at airports in Australia, France, Germany, India, Russia, Taiwan and beyond told of sleepless nights and days-long ordeals to get out of the Middle East when war erupted.

Max Lin, a student from Taiwan, was riding a motorcycle on the beach during a long layover in Dubai when he got the news that upended his trip on Saturday, the day the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

Fanny Wu, who had travelled to Dubai with her two children, said bombs were “going off right next to us” as the air strikes began.

“Although Taiwan has always been close to war, we had never experienced anything like this,” she said.

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