Dubai hotel fire: Family who escaped inferno now left stranded without passports
A family who were evacuated from a Dubai hotel as it went up in flames may not be able to return to England for more than a week after losing their passports.
Shah Ahad, his wife Sheuli Khatun and two children Zaeed, 11 and Aneeqa, six, who live in Wednesbury, were moved from the luxury Address Downtown hotel after a huge blaze on New Year's Eve.
They, along with nine other relatives from London who they had been enjoying a holiday with, were due to fly back on Saturday- but Mr Ahad said it could now be as late as Monday, January 11 before they could all return home.
He spent most of Saturday at the police station as well as the British Embassy where he is due to return today (Mon) to submit forms for emergency passports.
Speaking to the Express & Star, Mr Ahad, who runs Nishads restaurant in Stafford, said: "We have been transferred to another hotel and haven't been able to do anything.
"I have been at the British Embassy and the police station talking to them to get the incident report.
"The embassy will probably be able to provide us with an emergency passport or something like that.
"They told us we should get the documents by Wednesday.
"I have already phoned asking about the next flights but because there are 13 of us in total there isn't going to be anything until the 11th or 12th at the earliest."
Mr Ahad's daughter attends St Mary's Primary School in Wednesbury while his son goes to Wood Green.
He added: "Everyone was okay and no-one was hurt in the fire but by biggest concern now is getting my children back because they will miss school.
"My daughter was quite frightened by what happened, she is only six years old.
"She woke up the other night and couldn't sleep.
"My son is older and he's okay."
The family lost all of the their belongings in the fire.
They have been transferred to the Atlantis The Palm for free until they can return home but have had to purchase new clothes to get them through the week.
