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

A British passenger due to leave the Middle East on a delayed plane chartered by the government has called the situation a "total shambles" and said some people were having "panic attacks".

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 and the passenger said they had been told the pilot needed to rest.

Follow live updates on the Middle East crisis The Briton - who wanted to stay anonymous - 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." People who were due on the flight were taken back to a hotel. The passenger told Sky News they had 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." Border security minister Alex Norris told Sky's 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, are 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." Mr Norris added: "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 landed in Frankfurt early this morning, while Spanish and Italian flights have also made it home. BA and Emirates flights land in UK Air traffic in the Middle East has been thrown into chaos by Iran firing drones and missiles at US bases in the region in retaliation for attacks on its country.

However, a small number of commercial flights are now operating and the prime minister said on Wednesday that more than 1,000 Britons had managed to get home. Read more from Sky News:Stranded in the Middle East? What you need to know British Airways is among those that have been able to restart a few services back to the UK.

Its flight from Muscat in Oman landed at Heathrow shortly after 8am on Thursday. Emirates flights from Dubai also arrived at Heathrow and Manchester this morning.

Muscat, which has been largely unaffected by the conflict so far, 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 (482km)..