Planes were lifting off the ground minutes before a drone struck a fuel tank in the Dubai International Airport, United Arab Emirates, on Monday, while a dozen had taken off in the 30 minutes prior to the strike, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
The report further claims that the incident represents the dangers commercial airplanes face while flying near a war zone, with hundreds of airlines reinstating their flights to the Middle East even during the current conflict.
The current conflict brings fears of a tragedy like the one that happened in 2020, where the Iranian regime accidentally shot down a passenger jet and killed the 176 people inside.
“This is war. Why are they flying in the path of missiles?” Kourosh Doustshenas, whose partner was among the victims, told The Journal.
According to the report, pilots, security specialists, and industry executives are also raising similar fears about a possible accident, saying that the risk of a plane being hit by a missile, a drone, or even an air-defense system by mistake is high.
Risk of accident in numbers
The WSJ report mentions that, of the 8,700 flights and government notices issued since the start of the war and March 20 from Dubai, at least 39 flights have taken off or landed within five minutes of a national warning of incoming fire.
The numbers registered for the Abu Dhabi hub are lower, with six instances in the same timeframe, while the Sharjah airport, located about 30 kilometers northeast of Dubai, recorded 12.
In addition, many strikes are not detected in advance, with impacts occurring without a prior alert. The March 16 attack on the fuel tank was among them.
“We do not operate any flight unless it has been fully assessed and approved as safe,” a spokeswoman for Abu Dhabi-based Etihad said in a statement.
Finally, the WSJ reported at least five instances of jets being damaged while on the ground, with no injuries reported in those cases.