Students from McGill University are back home after a trip to Dubai amid rising tensions in the Middle East. The group, made up of master’s students from the Desautels Faculty of Management, had arrived in the region in late February for a one-week business program. “We saw above the sky a missile and a counter missile exploding in the sky in front of us,” said Noah Charron. “That’s when we realized okay, something’s really happening,” he said. The students arrived just as Iran launched retaliatory airstrikes following a joint U.S.-Israel attack on the country. Charron says the first night of his trip was the scariest. “We were in the hotel, and then we heard a lot of bombs,” he said, adding that hotel staff told visitors to temporarily move to the basement. Another student, Kat Saravanan, said the alerts about missiles were frightening. “That was not something I’ve experienced before growing up in Canada. We’re not used to getting alerts like that,” she said. Due to the situation, scheduled activities were cancelled, and students spent most of their time inside the hotel amid uncertainty. For Stefanie Som, the experience was hard to process. “It’s hard to put it into words. It was definitely surreal,” she said. With the assistance of a crisis team, the students safely crossed the border to Oman on March 5. They were then placed on flights out of the Middle East. In a statement to CTV News, a McGill University spokesperson said, “The University acted swiftly to provide all appropriate assistance, including implementing a plan to evacuate those who wished to leave the region. All Desautels students and faculty members who requested to return have now done so safely.” McGill says it remains in close contact with those who chose to remain abroad. “It was a life-changing experience, for sure,” said Som.
