A Dundee holidaymaker stuck in Egypt says tourists still does not know when they will be able to fly home.
All UK flights to and from the Sharm el-Sheikh resort have been suspended amid concerns from Downing Street that he Russian plan that crashed in the Sinai region was brought down by an “explosive device”.
There are at least 1,000 Britons awaiting flights out of Egypt.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said several hundred of them are Scots.
Erin Linton, 31, from Dundee, and her friend Clare Dyer, 33, from Broughty Ferry, are among the 1,000 British tourists stuck in Egypt following the cancellation of flights.
Erin told The Courier: “We don’t know what’s happening but we are staying in the same hotel for another night so we have got an extra day’s holiday.
“It’s on a day-to-day basis.One day is fine but any longer than that and people will get a bit stressed out.
“There a lot of rumours going about and people are getting a bit scared and working themselves up.
“I don’t think the media is helping we’re not stranded. I’d rather have the security a lot better and have to stay another day here than take the risk of flying today.”
She said there is confusion because holiday companies are waiting for information from the British government.
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She said: “The reps are doing the best they can but they are still waiting to hear from the government.
“We have one Scottish couple say they had a call from Thomas Cook saying there were military flights taking people out but no one else has heard that.”Do you know someone stuck in Egypt? Please phone 01382 575130 or email news@thecourier.co.ukAdam, from Sheffield, said he was due to fly back to the UK with his brother on Friday, but has “no idea whatsoever” about what will happen. He said he had received only “generic information” from the airline.
Adam, who declined to give his full name, has been staying at the Radisson Blu resort, nine miles from Sharm el-Sheikh international airport.
He said: “We have been kept in the dark a little bit. We have just been told all flights have been cancelled. A little bit of information would have been nice – just something.”
He also visited the resort last year, and said the area has been affected by the events of the past week.
“It definitely feels different for me. The mood is a bit tense, and it has dampened my mood a little bit. I am trying my hardest to keep it at the back of my mind.”
Paul Modley, who has travelled to Sharm el-Sheikh seven times in the last nine years, said he understands the decision to suspend flights, but hopes the resort is not too badly affected.
“We understand why the Government have done it, but I am really worried for the Egyptian people because – particularly in the Red Sea resorts – they are so dependent on tourism.”
Mr Modley, 49, from Ealing, west London, is due to fly back to the UK with Monarch on Saturday.
“The staff at the hotel are putting on a very positive face,” he said. “I do not think they will fully appreciate it right now but if this carries on for some time they will start to see the impact.
“People need to take the Government’s advice around travel. But I would hate to think that we wouldn’t be able to come back to Sharm because of local issues with terrorist cells.”
Mr Modley, who was also stranded in New York three years ago in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, added that he felt “slightly jinxed” but said it was just “one of those things”.
He denied that security in the area is lax, saying: “We have always felt really safe here and we still feel safe. We are sitting round the pool carrying on as normal.”
Joanna Newman, 40, was due to fly to Sharm el-Sheikh with her husband Andy on Thursday morning. They have been travelling there for 15 years.
She said: “We have never had any concerns over security in Sharm el-Sheikh, and they seem to be doing more checks than ever now. If anything, security seems to have gone up a notch in recent years.
“We have been told not to go to the airport and are just waiting to see what we are told about our flight. We don’t know whether to go home to Norfolk or book another night in the hotel.”
Sarah Cotterill told BBC News: “We were due to fly with easyJet back to Gatwick at tea-time last night. We got to the airport and we got through security and everything and then we were queuing up to board the plane, at which point the news came through from the UK that they were grounding flights, so after spending about three hours at the airport we’ve been bussed back to our hotel, and that’s where we are at the moment.
“At the airport we had practically no information, and there was a few members of the Egyptian staff at the airport trying to tell us what they knew, but that was practically nothing. Just as we were leaving, some embassy staff turned up and they travelled with us to the hotel.
“While we were sat at the hotel, the lady from the embassy was telling us what was going on, but this morning we’ve not seen or heard from anybody. All we know is what we’ve managed to find on the internet, from the airline, from your website and things like that.”
Asked about whether her flight was being rescheduled, Ms Cotterill said: “We’ve got no idea. All we know is from easyJet’s website that it’s not likely to be today, but we don’t know when it will be.”
Asked how she would feel about getting on a plane, she said: “Obviously it’s worrying, but I think now that they’re putting all this in place I think it will probably be the safest plane going from anywhere, I think, because they’re going to be really checking everything because of what’s happened, so I was concerned before but now I think they’re taking the safety very seriously.”