KZN travel agency helped bring back 150 S Africans from Middle East

World Travel , KwaZulu-Natal-based travel agency

A KwaZulu-Natal-based travel agency says it has helped bring at least 150 South Africans back home in the past 48 hours, as tensions escalate in the Middle East.

This follows the United States and Israeli air strikes on Iran over the weekend.

The attacks killed the country’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, along with senior security officials, including the defence minister.

Iran has since launched counter-strikes, forcing the suspension of civilian flights across parts of the region.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers have been stranded, including in Dubai.

CEO of World of Travel, Ishad Malek, says most of the South Africans assisted were on pilgrimage in Jerusalem.

The latest group of 50 arrived back in the country on Monday morning, through partnerships with African airlines.

Malek says some travellers remain stranded, while others have opted to extend their stay.

“We had pilgrims from Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban and we had to bring them back home on the services of Egypt Airlines, an African carrier that came to the rescue and they obviously brought our people back home. They arrived this morning back home. They left on Sunday. We had a long transit in Cairo and late last night they left from Cairo and returned back to South African shores this morning. Then we had the likes of Ethiopian Airlines also coming to the party as well. I’ve obviously returned in the last 24 or 48 hours, close to about 150 pilgrims returning back home from Saudi Arabia. They were stranded but they had no one to talk to and no one to assist them.”

Malek says despite tensions in the Middle East, some tourists are still planning to travel to Saudi Arabia for Ramadan.

Malek says that travel agencies are concerned about the possibility of airspace closures if the conflict escalates.

“Being in Ramadan and people that have the desire to be there in the month of Ramadan is something that’s amazing, it’s a different experience altogether. We have people, yes, being as it may, the Middle East and the trouble that’s taking place in the Middle East, people are obviously still looking forward to continuing their journeys. The only concerns currently, we have right now is that we need to embrace ourselves that we obviously, currently, we have the African carriers using the African route to come back home and my concern is that the African route could be closed as well. We hope and we pray that this is something that will be over soon.” -Reporting by Celumusa Zulu.

WATCH | At least 150 South Africans caught up in the escalating international conflict in the Middle East have been brought home by rerouting. SABC News reporter Jayed Paulse has more. pic.twitter.com/hvQZh4etLu

— SABC News (@SABCNews) March 2, 2026