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Actor Esha Gupta has shared a detailed account of the tense hours she spent in Abu Dhabi after the United States and Israel attacked Iran. She called the situation “very tough” and expressed gratitude for being safe and praised the swift action taken by authorities in the UAE.

‘Back Home,’ Says Esha Gupta

Esha shared the detailed account in an Instagram post. “Back home. Thank you all for your prayers and wishes. It was very tough to be in the situation that we all were. Truly God’s blessing to be safe!” she began.

Esha revealed that the chaos started on February 28, but since she hadn’t checked in before the airport was closed, she returned to her hotel. 

“It started when I was at the airport on the 28th (Sunday). By 1 pm, the airport was closed, and chaos all around as none of us knew what happened. Then the news started coming of the missile attack, and no one knew what the next minute held for us. Strangers consoling each other, all calling their families back home.”

She went on to highlight the composure shown by authorities at Abu Dhabi airport.

“Here, I would like to mention that what I saw was the strength of a country, which is the UAE. We were at the Abu Dhabi airport. The ground staff and airport security immediately lunged to action and stayed calm throughout even though we were all in this situation together. I hadn’t checked in myself by then so I took a turn and left back to my hotel in Abu Dhabi.”

In the next few slides, she shared the stories she claimed she heard firsthand from the people she later met in the hotel she was staying at.

What Happened After The Airport Closure

One of the accounts she shared detailed the measures taken for stranded passengers as missiles occupied the skies.

“First, they gave all the passengers possible cash for food at the airport. Of course, everyone had to wait to get their luggage and for the authorities to sort things. But after a few hours, each and every passenger had to be in a queue and they were all given accommodation at all the available hotels in Abu Dhabi. By 9 pm that night, they had buses ready for transfers to different hotels across the city and island.”

It added that the government acted swiftly and ordered hotels to provide stay to the passengers. “The government before it was out in media had ordered all the hotels to provide for stay and food to the stranded passengers. Again, this did not mean that they had strangers stuck in rooms, but they made sure only families or friends were together. We all were getting notifications alarms on our phones by the MOI of UAE to seek shelter. We also were getting reassurance alerts when situation seemed calm to them. We also were getting reassurance alerts when situation seemed calm to them.”

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Esha Gupta (@egupta)

‘Scared But No Chaos’

Praising the hotel staff and essential workers, Esha wrote, “The hotels management I saw, in the same clothes as last night, still working still active and taking care of everything, answering to the questions what they were unaware of as well to the best of their ability. The delivery men (Careem) were still out there delivering. There was no shortage of any service anywhere. The lobby was full of people, including us due to the security alert, scared, but no chaos. The hotel security kept reassuring everyone.”

She highlighted the collective calm shown by people during the crisis.

“Not once did we see the people, all scared internally but no one created stress, we all were in this together. Etihad had sent us all mail/messages for rebooking or refunds.”

‘Airline Staff Was Calm, Helpful’

Esha said she and others were focused on returning to India at the earliest, and despite the chaos and uncertainty, the ground staff remained calm. 

“We kept calling the airline in the hope to be on the next flight home, did not matter the city till we can land back in our own country. The ground staff on calls of the said airline were the most helpful and again, very calm, we had reached the airport much before so were lucky enough to be on the first commercial flight of Etihad which flew to Delhi yesterday afternoon.”

She added, “The airport was not fully functional, yet, the staff was ready to help in every way, with answers even they did not know yet. All this shows just the backbone of a country and its strength, they took action when needed, no blaming anyone, just strong decisions. Thank you to everyone who helped and are helping people of the world to get back to their home. Your country is truly special.”

Gratitude To Both Governments

Esha expressed appreciation to both India and the UAE in her last slide.

“Thank you for our government for providing its citizens with reassurance and working towards getting us all back. Thank you to UAE government in working in solidarity with every country for the citizens of the world! Radhe Radhe.”

The post, shared on Instagram two hours ago, has already garnered over 6,000 likes. Esha Gupta has disabled the comments section on the post, which she captioned with a folded hands emoji.