Baltimore County native stranded in Middle East amid Iran war

BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. — Baltimore County native Anjali Sharma has spent several days seeing missiles fly in the sky, feeling her hotel shake from bombs, and feeling utterly helpless, stuck in a war zone in the Middle East.

Sharma was flying to India for a wedding and had a stopover in Qatar on February 27th.
What was supposed to be a 24-hour stay quickly turned into several days of being stuck in the Middle East.

"I look outside the window and there's three or four missiles coming into the airspace because we're driving right by the defense base for the U.S. It was just so unimaginable to see all that happening in the sky," Sharma said.

While she was getting ready to drive off after exploring the desert, her guide got a call, and instantly she got three government alerts: shelter in place, ongoing attacks happening, and all airways suspended in Qatar.

Days later, she said she has no hope of leaving any time soon.

"It's been impossible. The U.S. Department of State has issued a shelter in place warning since the first day and also to enroll in the step program which is just getting alerts. I haven't received any guidance since that first day that I've been here except the same emails saying the same thing while I'm seeing people in Dubai and Abu Dhabi get repatriation flights out of the country," she told WMAR-2 News.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson sent a statement in response saying -

• The U.S. State Department has no higher priority than the safe return of American citizens. 
  
• Since February 28, over 17,500 American citizens have safely returned to the United States from the Middle East – with over 8,500 U.S. American citizens returning to the U.S. yesterday alone. 
  
• Many more Americans have left the Middle East to other countries in Europe and Asia, and others have safely departed the Middle East but are still in transit back to the United States. 
  
• Through the State Department’s 24/7 Task Force, we have assisted nearly 6,500 Americans abroad, including offering security guidance and travel assistance. 
  
• The U.S. State Department will continue to actively assist any American citizen abroad, who wishes to depart the Middle East, to do so. 
  
• The State Department Call Center lines are fully operational at +1-202-501-4444 (from abroad) and +1-888-407-4747 (from the United States and Canada).  Due to high call volume, wait times may be longer than usual. The outdated voice message, ran by a third party, has been fixed to correctly reflect the current guidance. 
  

However, Sharma said she only gets conflicting information from the government on social media versus when she calls them for help.

She's spent thousands on trying to book new flights, her hotel, and food with no idea if she'll be reimbursed.

She calls for the government to not only have clear lines of communication with stranded citizens, but within its own departments.

"Even though we were told to contact them, it's just been a slap in the face to get turned away like that constantly, especially after waiting hours online for hold with them."

The State Department has opened a crisis intake form for American citizens in the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.

Head here for the form and more information.