The warm embrace with their families. The long-awaited moment of returning home after experiencing moments they will never forget. The arrival at Elmas Airport of the 15 people from Cagliari who were stranded in the port of Dubai aboard the MSC Cruises ship.

The outbreak of the Gulf War surprised them at the airport in the United Arab Emirates city. Time stood still for them, a mixture of fear and anguish. Six days of waiting to return home. Above them, they saw drones and missiles. On Friday morning, they finally boarded the plane that took them to Fiumicino. In the evening, they disembarked in Cagliari.

Giovanni Melis, who after embracing his sister Annalisa, who turned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to resolve the situation and also made an appeal to the Region, spoke to journalists: "We lived through days of great fear. I never thought I'd see war so close up. Before us, the Iranian coast and many stranded boats. We saw missiles and heard unsettling noises. Yesterday, they told us we could return home from Dubai airport. This morning, MSC Cruises staff accompanied us through the airport. It wasn't easy. So many people in the airport, like us, wanted to leave the Emirates. Finally, we found the right gate and boarded the plane."

Along with the 15 cruise passengers on the scheduled Aeroitalia flight, Pietro Mozzone from Cagliari was also traveling with his wife and son: "I work in Dubai, but right now the conditions aren't right for living there. However, the Emirates' military defenses worked. Luckily, we weren't affected. We're home now."

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