'Total shambles': Passenger hits out at delayed chartered Middle East flight - as minister responds

A British passenger who was set to leave the Middle East on a plane chartered by the government has described the situation on the ground as a "total shambles".

The flight to evacuate Britons stuck in the region due to the Iran war was scheduled to depart Muscat in Oman at 11pm local time on Wednesday. However, it never took off due to "technical issues" and the passenger - who wished to remain anonymous - said people were having "panic attacks".

Follow live updates on the Middle East crisis They told Sky News: "[The] check-in process took about four hours due to technical issues. We then got taken to the plane on a bus but had to stay on it for about one-and-a-half hours.

"No consular staff were present airside. They just left us.

People started getting very agitated, banging windows, panic attacks. "There are dozens and dozens of vulnerable people, young children and families." A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "The UK government charter flight was not able to depart from Oman yesterday as planned due to technical issues.

The flight is now expected to depart later today." Border security minister Alex Norris told Sophy Ridge on Mornings: "There have been a number of commercial flights that have gone yesterday. We have chartered a flight out of Oman that wasn't able to leave last night for operational reasons.

"We expect that to be leaving today, we expect there to be multiple more flights following that. "So I know people are feeling stressed, our people are on the ground, including at the airport, helping them support them through that.

"We've helped them make sure they've found hotel rooms that we paid for to support them through that process. I know it's frustrating, but these things obviously are fast moving and do take a little time to stand up." Planes chartered by other European governments have already brought home some of their citizens.

A German Lufthansa plane from Oman laned in Frankfurt early this morning, while a Spanish flight touched down in Madrid. Read more from Sky News:Stranded in the Middle East? What you need to know Air traffic in and out of the Middle East has been thrown into chaos by the six days of war, with Iran firing drones and missiles at US bases in the region.

However, some commercial flights are now operating and the prime minister said more than 1,000 Britons have now managed to get home. British Airways is among the carriers to have been operating commercial flights back to the UK, including from Muscat.

One took off last night and is due to land at Heathrow this morning, shortly after 8am. Muscat has emerged as a key location for people trying to leave the Middle East - it can be reached by road from both Dubai and Abu Dhabi with journeys of about 300 miles.

People who were due on the first chartered flight have been taken back to a hotel. The passenger who spoke to Sky News about their experience claimed they'd been told that "due to slow check-in and delays, the pilot had clocked his hours so needed to rest".

"We have been told the plane will take off later today [Thursday] once the pilot has rested," they added. "The stress this has caused these vulnerable people is incredibly serious.".