Stranded

A mother has been left stranded with her two-year-old daughter after a new passport rule that was ‘quietly introduced’ prevented them from flying back to the UK

A new passport rule left a mum and her two-year-old daughter stranded abroad with no way of getting home.

Tegan van der Merwe, 25, and her toddler were refused permission to fly back to the UK, despite living in Britain for more than two decades. Now they’re trapped in Mallorca and fear they could be there for weeks.

She said: “It’s a terrifying situation to be in with a young child – we’re not safe here. We had to find the cheapest place to stay next to a strip of drunk people because we are completely stranded.”

The mum, from Manchester, had travelled to Palma de Mallorca for a five-day holiday with her daughter. But she said they were stopped at immigration because they both travel on Dutch passports, despite her holding settled status and her daughter automatically qualifying for British citizenship after being born in the UK.

She said they were later told the problem stemmed from a rule introduced in February requiring British dual citizens to prove their right to live in the UK before travelling. Under the changes, travellers can no longer rely on a foreign passport alone and must instead carry a valid British passport or a Certificate of Entitlement.

Left with no way home, Tegan and her daughter were advised to visit the British Consulate in Palma. They have since been forced to leave their hotel and move into a cheaper self-catering apartment close to a busy strip near Magaluf left with no way home.

Tegan travelled to the consulate on Monday, catching buses before walking for more than an hour in the heat with her daughter. But she claimed she was met with a hostile response when she arrived.

She told the Daily Mail: “The consulate wouldn’t even open the door. I was told to speak to someone over the phone and put a Spanish address to get documents to apply for a British passport sent to me.

“We were also told we had to get photocopies of everything – which meant walking even further and getting buses to try and find a post office or library which had a printer.”

Tegan said she then paid 60 euros to send off the forms and feared she could now be stranded in Spain for up to six weeks while waiting for the passports to be processed. She now has little money left after spending much of it on the holiday, and is unable to earn an income while stuck overseas.

She said: “She has her ups and downs throughout the day, we’re just trying to make it as normal as we can for her. I’m just worrying about where the money is coming from, stressing about everything, and worrying that ultimately we could end up on the street if we don’t get help.”

The ordeal has also left Tegan facing problems back in the UK. She said she has been forced to hand in notice on the home she rents in Manchester because she cannot work while stranded abroad, and now expects to move in with her mother once they are eventually able to return.

The experience has left Tegan wanting to “renounce” both her and her daughter’s British citizenship after feeling completely “abandoned by the Government”.

She added: “I don’t want to live in the country anymore, the way we have been treated. It’s like we are criminals – why can a two-year-old not re-enter the country and at least be held and questioned there? It’s terrible.”

Maritime monitoring service TankerTrackers.com said on Thursday that a ship which Iranian media reported had run aground in the Strait of Hormuz has in fact been stuck in the same spot since March and is part of an operation managed by the notorious Iranian oil magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani.

Here is what we know about Shamkhani, whom the US and EU allege is a central figure in Iranian and Russian shadow fleet operations, generating billions of dollars of oil revenues for both, and what happened to his ship in the Hormuz strait.

What do we know about the stranded ship?

On Thursday, TankerTrackers.com reported that the ship that Iranian media said had run aground in the Strait of Hormuz after using a “US-suggested route” has actually been stuck in the same spot since March.

It identified the vessel as the Arista, and reported that while it is Comoros-flagged, it is in fact part of an operation managed by the sanctioned Iranian oil magnate Shamkhani.

Who is Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani and what are the allegations against him?

Shamkhani is an Iranian oil shipping magnate who has multiple Western sanctions imposed on him. He is the son of the late Ali Shamkhani, a senior political adviser to Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Ali Shamkhani led the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) for a decade until 2023, making him the second-longest-serving security chief since 1979 after former President Hassan Rouhani, who was SNSC secretary for nearly 16 years.

He was reportedly killed in the first Israeli-US strikes on Tehran on February 28 , which triggered the war with Iran and also killed Khamenei, whose funeral begins tomorrow.

In March, the Sarajevo-based Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) reported that following an investigation, Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani and his brother had used aliases and Caribbean “golden passports” to amass a $29m million property portfolio in Dubai.

The US Treasury, which has sanctioned the Shamkhani shipping empire, says it is part of a massive Iranian and Russian oil smuggling ring and that the Comoros‑flagged Arista aground in Hormuz is part of that network.

How does Shamkhani’s oil shipping operation work?

According to the US Treasury, the Shamkhani network makes use of “front” companies to buy Iranian and Russian oil for which it falsifies shipping documents. It switches the oil between vessels frequently via its shipping operations and sells the oil on to buyers who pay for it via their own front companies to obscure the flow of money.

Additional profits are funnelled through hedge funds and other money-laundering operations, the US Treasury alleges.

It said Shamkhani relies on a mix of crude oil, oil product and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tankers to generate billions of dollars for the Iranian and Russian regimes.

According to the European Commission, Shamkhani “uses the company Milavous Group Ltd to blend crude oil with various petroleum products from Russia and to rebrand for exporting purposes, thereby concealing their origin”.

Shamkhani is not known to have responded publicly to these allegations.

What sanctions have been imposed on Shamkhani?

Shamkhani was first sanctioned by the US last July, amid a large number of Iran-related sanctions. In April, the US Treasury Department announced additional sanctions on Shamkhani’s network.

“Treasury is moving aggressively with Economic Fury by targeting regime elites like the Shamkhani family that attempt to profit at the expense of the Iranian people,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

A statement from the US Treasury added that Shamkhani “heads a multi-billion dollar Iranian and Russian petroleum sales empire that enriches a family connected to the highest echelons of the Iranian regime at the expense of the Iranian people”.

The European Union sanctions tracker website says Shamkhani is also subject to EU sanctions, describing him as “a businessperson active in the Russian oil trade and a central player in Russia’s so-called ‘shadow fleet’.”

Russia’s shadow fleet is a network of hundreds of ageing, poorly regulated oil tankers that Russia uses to export crude and fuel while evading Western sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

An August last year, the UK government also announced sanctions against Shamkhani including an asset freeze, director disqualification and travel ban. Minister for the Middle East Hamish Falconer said: “The UK is announcing sanctions against those who operate on behalf of Iran, fuelling its attempts to undermine stability in the Middle East and global security.

“Iran’s reliance on revenues from trading networks and connected organisations enables it to carry out its destabilising activities, including supporting proxies and partners across the region and facilitating state threats on UK soil.”

With ₦2.759 million standing between Pious Umokoro* and graduation, his dream of building a better life for himself hangs in the balance. The chance to attend a private university felt like a blessing, but four years of relentless effort, sleepless nights, and hope are at risk if he cannot secure the funds.

Given his family’s financial struggles, Pious’s best chance at higher education was through the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) scholarship at Novena University in Delta State, South South Nigeria. Trapped in a deceitful slot system that promised him the PAP scholarship, he is now unable to pay the outstanding fees demanded by the university.

PAP was established in 2009 by the Nigerian federal government to address militancy in the Niger Delta region, offering scholarships, vocational training, and peacebuilding schemes. One of PAP’s initiatives is a fully funded scholarship programme that covers tuition, monthly stipends, books, and accommodation for both undergraduate and postgraduate beneficiaries. The scholarship scheme is meant to be life-changing for those lucky enough to receive it, but a confusing selection process and sharp practices have put the chances of many hopeful participants at risk. 

According to the Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), militancy in the region arises from communal conflicts, gang clashes related to cults, armed confrontations with security forces, separatist agitations, and natural disasters. However, the PAP initiative provides opportunities for young people – ex-agitators and individuals from impacted communities – to eradicate militancy and armed violence in the region.

A dream deferred 

Pious is the youngest of his parents’ four children. After losing his father at the age of two, his family moved from South West Nigeria to North Central. His mother, a retired nurse, became the family’s breadwinner, taking over her late husband’s frozen-food business to support her children. Unfortunately, the business began to decline, making things more difficult for them.  

In 2012, pressure from their extended family in Delta State prompted his mother to relocate, driven by fears of the insurgency in the northern region. His mother registered him in a private school, but did not have the financial means to support his education there for long, which eventually led to his transfer to a government school.

The extended family promised to set up a chemist shop for his mother after she returned, but they could only pay her rent for a few months for a one-bedroom apartment. “The support stopped coming from family members, and my mother started to look for another job. Her salary was not enough to support us. So she eventually started farming, mostly cassava for our own consumption and occasional pepper farming, which she does to date,” he told HumAngle. 

She raised money for her son to take the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) by working on people’s farms. “The good thing is that the secondary school I attended was free. You just handle things like books and uniforms,” he recalled. 

Despite the presence of many oil companies, the community in Delta State remained underdeveloped, and it took time for Pious’ family to adjust. After finishing secondary school in 2017, a church member introduced him to a teaching job paying ₦8,000 per month. Eventually, he took another job at a depot where he was paid ₦10,000. He would later find yet another job, which he held until 2021.

“I started working to raise money to do a computer training. I ended up saving nothing for the computer I wanted to learn,” he said. 

Over the years, he had taken the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) exam twice. On his first attempt, he applied to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in the country’s northwestern region, but was not admitted. When he took the second exam, he encountered a technical problem due to a mistake by the person in charge of his registration. He went to a JAMB centre in Asaba, but couldn’t rectify the error. It was around that time that the Novena University opportunity came through a church member who worked in the school. The church member noticed that he had been at home since finishing secondary school and decided to get him the scholarship slot so he could reach his full potential. His excitement at the time seemed to have stopped him from spotting the red flag early enough, as he never received any formal letter indicating that he had secured the PAP scholarship, nor did he apply for it through any formal process. 

“The church member who introduced me worked in the school. I was taken to the Dean of Student Affairs’ office, where I collected my admission letter,” he recounted. 

Applications for this programme are submitted online through the official PAP portal, where successful candidates undergo a written aptitude test and an oral interview. Pious only became aware of the PAP scholarship through the church member. He was aware that companies, especially oil companies, and sometimes government organisations, offer scholarships, but he never had the chance to apply for any. He said he was clueless and had assumed the procedure he followed was the norm, meaning he didn’t explore the right application channel.

“Novena rarely did anything online. There was no student portal. When you resume, you will buy seven files, photocopy your documents into them, and then submit them to six offices. The system was fully manual, and we did that process for two years,” he noted, adding that he never received an email or any kind of digital message from PAP, and there was no direct interaction between the students and the scholarship scheme.

Schooling in fear

Pious and several other students in his shoes claimed the only evidence they had for being beneficiaries of the PAP scholarship was a mention of the programme on their admission form, specifically the student records update form, where PAP was listed as their sponsor. They received a temporary clearance each year, which granted them access to school facilities. 

But the so-called scholarship came with so many uncertainties. Although they were not paying school fees, there were many other expenses, and the accommodation they were provided was not very good. “The hostels they put us in were not good, but we did not have to pay for them,” he said. 

The school also prohibited activities such as cooking, making it compulsory for students like Pious, who were already struggling, to buy food. He said he persisted because he knew that he could not support himself in any other school. Even when he was starving, he poured everything he could into the school and eventually finished with a very good result. 

“I didn’t want to let down the church member who helped me, or my family. So I put in everything, and my efforts paid off. This is why it is so painful that I am not allowed to graduate,” he told HumAngle. 

Due to a lack of direct communication with the school, students like Pious must rely on rumours or seek confirmation from those who secured their scholarship slots for them, albeit through the back door. 

After graduating in 2025, he was trying to gather the ₦200,000 required for his final clearance when the news officially came from the students who had started the clearance process. “A little before graduation, we started hearing stories of what could happen from previous amnesty students [PAP scholarship beneficiaries], who said that at one point they were told that amnesty [PAP] did not pay their dues,” he said. 

Pious refused to name the church member who had “given him the scholarship opportunity” at the university. In 2022, some of the supposed scholarship recipients staged a protest, stopping staff from entering the university premises. The protest also stalled lectures and other activities until the university management intervened.

“I don’t understand why they didn’t inform us when they weren’t receiving any money from amnesty,” Pious complained. 

Scholarship for sale?

During separate interviews with HumAngle, several students who claimed to be recipients of the PAP scholarship, such as Favour David*, admitted they had to pay large sums to “buy” the opportunity, despite warnings on PAP’s website that the scholarship requires no payment from beneficiaries. Now, they find themselves in a muddle.

“My mum got information from where she works that someone was selling [PAP scholarship] slot for ₦200,000. He promised her a monthly stipend of ₦70,000, along with full tuition payment. So she didn’t hesitate to buy it for me,” Favour confessed. He had gotten his provisional admission letter at the university premises, where he also signed “many forms”. Like other students, he had gotten a temporary clearance slip instead of school fees receipts. 

“We were made to sign lots of forms, among them was a clause stating that if amnesty does not pay our tuition, we are paying it ourselves later,” Favour noted. 

It appears that some other students, like Pious, failed to pay attention to that clause, as noted in one of the documents they had signed. While speaking to HumAngle, Pious said he had only just noticed that such a clause existed in one of his signed documents. 

“We filled out countless forms, and many of them contained those kinds of clauses, including the hostel forms. I only filled in the form once, and my attention didn’t go there,” he claimed. “I remembered I was called by the man who brought me to fill in the form, which we returned to him immediately, told us to pay attention to the name of the clan we were registered under, and that was the only name where that clan name appeared.”

The clan names refer to leaders of militant groups who worked with the PAP to represent their communities and were given slots to distribute to their followers.

For Favour, the red flags were obvious from the beginning. Some past beneficiaries of the scholarship also left midway after spotting what they described as “red flags”, but many just kept moving because they had invested too much to stop.

“Some people paid over ₦500,000 for their slot. Personally, I would have dropped out as well, but my mom disagreed, having lots of hope in our pitiful government. Now we have debts in millions on our heads, no promised stipend, no school fees paid, nothing but insults and humiliation,” he said. 

The students complained that the school offered no direct communication with them and that they relied on the annual temporary clearance they were given, hoping for a better outcome. 

“Even after everything, if you come for clearance, there are only two options – pay your outstanding fees or write a letter to the school board affirming your willingness to formally owe them. Even if you choose option one to pay your fees if you have the money, you still need to write a letter to the school board telling them that you are willingly converting from an amnesty student to a private, self-sponsored student before they allow you to pay the money,” he noted. 

Favour, like other students, says he feels trapped and unable to move towards the better future they were promised. He is not the only person left to pick up the pieces after paying bribes to get “the alleged life-changing opportunity”. 

Felicia John*, another student of the university, said she had never heard of PAP or Novena University before her parents allegedly raised ₦500,000 to secure her a slot through someone who worked at the university. The opportunity came two years after her secondary school graduation.

Due to late resumptions at the time, the university ran semesters concurrently, which affected many people, Felicia said. Before she got a PAP slot, her parents could not afford to send her to university, so she focused on learning a trade until she had the chance to continue her education. 

When she arrived at the school, she discovered a list of all the amnesty students. This list came from a lecturer in a very important position at the institution. During her second year, as a 200-level student, there were numerous issues with the verification of the amnesty scholarship. In 2022, when students protested to learn their standing in the scholarship scheme, the school ultimately paused their exams.

“Even with all these, the school was still accepting students who came through amnesty to the extent that their nursing department was overpopulated,” she said. 

Felicia considered dropping out in her third year due to unresolved issues, but the promise of a resolution kept her in school. Now, she feels stuck with little hope of graduating. Her spirits were lifted when the King of the Itsekiri ethnic group pledged to address their outstanding fees in 2025. However, not all students received an email inviting them to verify their information after completing the online form sent to members of the ethnic group.

“But my friends who went said if you’re not from Itsekiri, you have to change your origin to Itsekiri and also pay an amount of money for it, which they didn’t do, but those from the tribe were given a consent form to fill out. That’s more like a form that says you permit them to sort out everything for you,” she said. 

The students are still waiting for a solution to this problem. 

In September 2025, a group of 5,000 Itsekiri graduates from Novena University woke up to the news that they had been excluded from the official PAP scholarship scheme. This issue came to light when a representative for the Olu of Warri, Collins Oritsetimeyin, claimed that the government owed the university money for these students, noting that the palace would step in to help pay their fees and clearance costs.

However, the amnesty officials insisted that they had no obligation to pay the students’ school fees, as the students had failed to secure the scholarship through the proper channel. In 2017, a group called the Itsekiri National Youth Council (INYC) sent a list of 5,000 names directly to Novena University as candidates for the PAP scholarship, without obtaining approval from the authorities, according to a statement by the amnesty office.

The statement, signed by Igoniko Oduma, the special assistant on media to PAP’s administrator, Dennis Otuaro, reiterated that during meetings with the university and the youth council, no one could find any letters or papers proving the government had ever agreed to pay for these students. Igboniko noted that paying for them now would encourage dishonest behaviour and “sharp practices”.

Dennis also said he has upheld this decision. While he is working to expand access to higher education in the Niger Delta, he says beneficiaries of the scholarship programme must follow the proper channels. The agency noted that, for the 5,000 Itsekiri graduates, the official stance remains that they were never part of the scholarship scheme.

Following the due process 

Not all stories had a tragic ending. Kuru Blaq was a successful beneficiary of the PAP scholarship at Novena University. During his time in school, he held various positions in several campus associations. Admitted into the institution in 2019, Kuru received a scholarship letter following a verification exercise involving many other beneficiaries.

“The programme covered our tuition fee, stipend, and we were also given laptops, though some people didn’t get them, and some people also were not getting stipends, but many of those issues eventually got resolved,” he said. The legitimate PAP scholarship recipients received a monthly stipend of ₦70,000 and a book allowance of ₦20,000 every three months. 

Kuru was still in school when some other sources HumAngle interviewed came in, but the admissions process was different. “Some of them said they got their admission letters while they were still at home. I am sure that if PAP sent people to the school, they sent deployment letters to the school,“ he said.

When Kuru was in school, their departmental dues, including examination fees, were also covered by PAP. They only had to pay dues occasionally. However, the other students, like Felicia, paid all dues and did not receive stipends. 

“We started suspecting that those student sponsorships were not true. But students started to complain. Some students started withdrawing. I remembered that the then-coordinator of PAP came to Novena University for clarification,” he said. 

Nothing changed for the students involved, leading to the protest at the university entrance in 2022. Kuru said he did not participate in the protest, but was in school when it occurred. He also said that the organiser of the protest was arrested, even though it was not violent. 

“Later on, the university added a clause which many of the students did not read properly. But the students were not told directly that they were not bona fide scholarship students. People keep reaching out to me on a daily basis, asking for solutions,” he added. 

Peter John*, another student who properly secured the PAP scholarship, said he served on a committee that oversaw complaints from beneficiaries of the programme. Peter’s role in the committee gave him access to top officials in the Abuja headquarters. He had urged the officials to conduct a thorough investigation into allegations that students bought their way into the programme. 

He recalled speaking directly with some parents during which he realised that some students had paid certain people who claimed to be lecturers and officials of the amnesty programme. PAP would later issue two circulars to release the list of those who entered the amnesty scheme through the back door. For unclear reasons, he said, the circular was not pasted on the school’s notice board.

Peter also experienced a delay in payments for a few months after his admission, but it was resolved following another verification round, after which the arrears were paid. Some other students, however, noted that while their school fees were paid, their monthly allowances were delayed.

The PAP committee asked Peter for a list of students with controversial scholarship claims, but the school failed to provide it. Some affected students affiliated with the Itsekiri ethnic group approached him for intervention, but he was reluctant to help due to fear of being labelled tribalistic. The students were urged to visit the Itsekiri palace in Warri to resolve the issue.  

“The list the school refused to give was later presented by the Dean of Student Affairs in my presence, claiming that they had already informed the affected students to leave the school. I could not say anything openly as I had not gotten my result then, and I had to be careful,” he said. 

The PAP leadership subsequently made a public statement, advising delegates, traditional rulers, and parents to be cautious about paying individuals to secure the scholarship. They emphasised that the programme does not require any payment. 

As a committee member of the PAP scholarship students’ association, Peter had also presented the matter to the then head of reintegration. “They send instructions saying that students can still apply by writing and passing the JAMB and applying directly to PAP, and they can send them to other schools. Some students got the information, and I am personally aware of some who were sent to other schools. Because of that issue, Amnesty stopped sending students to Novena University,” he said.

Reluctant response 

HumAngle tried to reach Novena University via three different email addresses listed on its website, but received no response. A representative of the university who answered the call when we contacted the official phone number asked HumAngle to visit the school in person for identity verification. 

When contacted, Linus Ilogho, the university registrar, initially claimed he needed to consult certain documents to answer questions posed by HumAngle, but later attempted to explain the complexities of the scholarship funding. 

“The law of contract says every contract must be signed and delivered, must include an acceptance, and must be based on records. That is it, even if you are in an amnesty programme and amnesty says they are not paying for you, we cannot use our fee to pay for the person after we have given training to the person,” Linus declared.

“For example, if you spend four years and the scholarship you told us you were given does not work, and they don’t pay us for five years, four years, six years, everything we are doing in a private university is run on funds. There is no other thing I can tell you, unless you come to the university to ask these questions,” he added.

When asked if PAP had an arrangement with the university, he did not provide a clear answer. “Why are you talking to me in this manner?” he asked before hanging up the phone.

On June 1, HumAngle submitted a freedom of information (FOI) letter to PAP, seeking answers to pressing questions. As days turned into weeks, the silence from the government institution grew deafening, heightening the frustration and urgency of the situation. The affected students continued to chart their course, relentlessly pursuing any glimmer of hope that could reignite their dreams of a brighter future.

Editor’s Note: Students quoted in this story asked that their names be changed to protect them from possible retribution.

RYLAN has apologised after being forced to pull out of his BBC Radio Two show.

The 37-year-old was due to be on air today, but failed to make it home from Nice, France.

The radio host had to be replaced at the eleventh hour after being stranded abroad.

Calling into Emma Willis‘ show to explain his predicament, Rylan said: “I decided to go away with my partner and a couple of my friends to Nice for a few days and just enjoy the sun.

“I didn’t have work this week, I’d managed to clear my diary and I was like, that’s amazing.

“I was flying back very early this morning, so I went to the airport and it was like, ‘no’.

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“I was like, “sorry?’

“At one point I was going to get on an eight-hour train, which still would have made me late for work, but would have got me home today.

“In the end I thought, ‘you know what, you’ve done well for yourself, I’m just going to stay another day’.

“What can I do? I’m not going to be able to make the show today so I thought I can either really stress myself out about this and sweat my foundation off my forehead or I’m just going to have to swallow it and deal with it and go, ‘what a shame, there’s worse places to be’.”

Rylan was replaced by Mark Goodier, with a BBC rep confirming on social media: “Rylan got stranded somewhere Nice…”

Rylan replied in the comments, writing: “So unprofessional.”

He also went on his Instagram, telling fans: “Soz about today’s show.

“I blame everyone but myself.

“Genuinely had it all sussed out and then flights all cancelled.

“Thanks Mark for stepping in you legend. Gonna have a rosé and think of you all.”

Mark stepped up to the hotseat for Rylan to host the film and TV quiz Couch Potatoes and discovered how listeners’ holiday dilemmas turned into a feel-good success story.

Rylan will be back next week to host his three-hour show Rylan On Saturday which airs weekly at 3pm.

Oman and the U.N. International Maritime Organization (IMO) are sharpening up their plan to evacuate hundreds of ships still stuck in the Persian Gulf since Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz after being attacked by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28. The move comes as shipping traffic in this strategic chokepoint is increasing amid tense ongoing peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. However, there is still a very long way to go and many challenges, including the possible presence of mines, to overcome before transits reach pre-war levels.

“The Sultanate of Oman based on its responsibilities toward the Strait of Hormuz, and its importance to the global economy, and in accordance to its continued commitment to the international law and the law of the sea to ensure freedom of navigation in the strait without imposing any tolls, in line with the outcomes and efforts reached by the United States and Islamic Republic of Iran…has worked in coordination with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to provide vessels with the option of a temporary maritime corridor defined by the coordinates announced by IMO and Omani authorities. Ships willing to transit must coordinate with IMO,” Oman’s Maritime Security Center stated Wednesday on X.

“This large-scale operation will be carried out in close cooperation with Iran, Oman, all other coastal States in the region, the United States and the maritime industry,” according to the IMO.

IMO on Wednesday issued additional guidance to what it is calling an “evacuation” plan and noted that there are two routes for ships transiting the Strait. The northern route, close to the Iranian shoreline, is controlled by the Islamic Republic of Iran while the southern route, along the Oman coastline, is coordinated with U.S. authorities.

The southern route is clear of mines and is the preferred route, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center.

Regardless of which route ships prefer, IMO is cautioning them to “remain in their current position and await further instructions.”

Vessels have to wait to “allow safe sequencing, avoid congestion, and mitigate risks related to mines and degraded navigation conditions,” IMO added. “Movements will only begin once vessels are contacted through the coordinated mechanism involving IMO, UKMTO, and MICA Center, followed by coastal State coordination.”

As for current mine clearance operations, CENTCOM would not offer details about how they are being carried out.

“I won’t go into specifics for operational security reasons,” Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, CENTCOM’s spokesman, told us Wednesday morning. “We’ve been at this for a number of weeks and we’re making progress, as demonstrated by the safe passage currently available to commercial vessels and enabling traffic flow to pick up.”

All this comes after tensions surrounding the Strait erupted again last week, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps saying it was being closed again after Israeli attacks on Lebanon and CENTCOM maintaining it was open.

Trump on Wednesday took to Truth Social to dispel what he claims are inaccurate media accounts about the Strait.

“Iran has informed the U.S. that, despite troublemaking Fake News reporting to the contrary, there are ‘NO TOLLS, NO INSURANCE COSTS, & NO OTHER CHARGES OF ANY KIND BEING SOUGHT OR RECEIVED BY IRAN ON SHIPS TRAVELING THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ,’” Trump proclaimed. “If this is false information, negotiations would end, immediately!”

Trump: Iran has informed the U.S. that, despite troublemaking Fake News reporting to the contrary, there are “NO TOLLS, NO INSURANCE COSTS, & NO OTHER CHARGES OF ANY KIND BEING SOUGHT OR RECEIVED BY IRAN ON SHIPS TRAVELING THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ.” If this is false information,… pic.twitter.com/3bYur1t71o

— Polymarket Intel (@PolymarketIntel) June 24, 2026

TWZ cannot independently confirm any of these statements; however, ship tracking organizations on Wednesday say commercial vessels have been transiting the Strait at increasing rates, though far from what they were before the war.

“Vessel activity through the Strait of Hormuz has rebounded sharply across two consecutive weekends, pointing to a clear shift in traffic patterns through one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints,” the MarineTraffic website stated on X Wednesday. “According to #MarineTraffic data and Kpler data, confirmed crossings rose from 32 vessels between 12–14 June to 93 vessels between 19–21 June, an increase of 61 crossings week-on-week.”

The biggest change came on Saturday, MarineTraffic noted, “when crossings jumped from 3 to 42 compared with the previous weekend. The recovery has been supported by recent diplomatic developments and a temporary OFAC general license, which has helped ease immediate compliance uncertainty around approved Hormuz transits until 21 August.”

When it comes to oil, at least 20 tankers carrying 35 million barrels have exited the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S. and Iran agreed to open the sea lane, according to data provided by Kpler.

Strait of Hormuz traffic remains active, but recovery stays cautious

Confirmed vessel activity through the Strait of Hormuz remained steady on 23 June, with 31 verified crossings recorded across commercial and energy-linked vessels. According to #MarineTraffic data, west-to-east… pic.twitter.com/dz3o9OWRJx

— MarineTraffic (@MarineTraffic) June 24, 2026

Still, two major shipping companies we spoke with remain cautious about transiting the Strait.

Maersk referred us to a statement they gave TWZ last week saying that the announcement about the U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding “is a welcome and positive development, but publicly available details are still limited, and it is too early to assess how it will impact logistics and maritime operations in the Middle East. At this stage, there are no changes to our operations in the region.”

On Wednesday, a company spokesman told us Maersk still has five ships stuck in the Persian Gulf.

Hapag-Lloyd is also taking a wait-and-see attitude.

“Our vessels are ready for a transit, but we will only sail through the Strait of Hormuz when it is safe to do so,” a company spokesperson told us, declining to say how many ships it still has in the Gulf.

Meanwhile, the Royal Navy’s RFA Lyme Bay and two German warships have transited the Red Sea in case they are needed to help remove mines from the Strait of Hormuz. The Lyme Bay, “now configured as an Afloat Forward Support Base for mine countermeasures, transited the Suez Canal on 19th June and then passed south through the Red Sea,” the Royal Navy (RN) noted. 

The ship carries uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) with towed sonar arrays and AI automatic target recognition that can “filter and refine vast amounts of data allowing operators to speed up the process of classifying and neutralizing mines,” according to the RN.

Lyme Bay also has “Video Ray Defender-Viper portable mine disposal submersibles, capable of locating, identifying and destroying mines.”

There are also mine warfare, diving and explosive ordnance disposal specialists on board to assist the mine clearance mission.

Lyme Bay was accompanied by the German command and support ship FGS Mosel and minehunter FGS Fulda.

However, those vessels “detached from the task group on 23 June to head for Djibouti for resupply and further preparation,” according to Navy Lookout, an independent publication focusing on the Royal Navy. “They currently operate under the European Union mission Operation Aspides, which has the sole aim of defending merchant shipping against Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.”

We have reached out to the German Bundeswehr and Aspides for additional insights.

Amid the renewed flow of traffic through the Strait, oil prices have plummeted in recent days. As of Wednesday morning, Brent Crude was trading at just under $74 a barrel, according to OilPrice.com. That’s down from a high of more than $114 per barrel at the height of U.S.-Iran tensions in early May.

U.S. crude oil inventories fell by 6.1 million barrels last week, pushing stockpiles to 412.1 million barrels—7% below the five-year average. Despite the bullish draw, oil prices fell sharply as traders focused on easing Middle East supply risks. #Oil #CrudeOil #EIA…

— OilPrice.com (@OilandEnergy) June 24, 2026

How long oil prices continue to fall is an open question as the U.S. and Iran continue to express disagreements over the terms of a final Iran-U.S. peace deal following the MoU signed last week.

In addition to the aforementioned confusion over the status of the Strait, there is ongoing discord over whether Iran has agreed to allow inspection of its nuclear facilities. Trump and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) both say Iran has agreed to let inspectors in while the Iranians say that isn’t the case.

President Trump said Iran agreed that it will “never have a nuclear weapon” during his visit to a Pennsylvania’s Mack Truck facility on Tuesday. He also said “19 million barrels of oil flowed out of the Strait of Hormuz” on Monday, which he said is “the most oil in the history of… pic.twitter.com/ycsILtZRpq

— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 23, 2026

Meanwhile, both sides have issued bellicose threats against the other as the often acrimonious negotiations for what is essentially an extension of the ceasefire continue. 

As we have noted in the past, there is tremendous global and domestic pressure on Trump not to resume the war. The world economy is only beginning to recover from rising oil prices while Trump’s Republican party faces a midterm election in November made challenging by the unpopularity of this conflict. In addition, forces have now been deployed for many months and will have to be rotated out in the coming weeks.

Regardless, while getting vessels finally out of the Persian Gulf is still a priority, when robust two-way transits will return is still unclear, which will be critical to stabilizing the situation economically and geopolitically.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

Following the start of the US-Israel war on Iran on February 28, Tehran had effectively closed off the strait, leaving vessels stuck. 

The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) has begun evacuating more than 11,000 sailors stranded in the Strait of Hormuz following the memorandum of understanding signed by the United States and Iran to end the US-Israel war on Iran.

IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement on Tuesday that the operation would be carried out in “close cooperation with Iran, Oman, all other coastal states in the region, the United States and the maritime industry”.

“We have secured the necessary safety guarantees and have thoroughly verified the conditions for safe navigation to support these operations,” he said.

Following the start of the US-Israel war on Iran on February 28, Tehran had effectively closed off the strait, leaving vessels stuck on the waterway.

But shipping traffic has increased since the signing of the agreement last week, with the Kpler shipping intelligence agency reporting that at least 36 commercial vessels passed through the strait on Monday, a record level of traffic since the war began.

According to Oman’s Defence Ministry, the evacuation process under the IMO plan, which has been under discussion for months, will be phased.

“Given the elevated risk of collision in the current environment, a gradual and controlled evacuation of vessel traffic is required,” it said.

Denmark announced on Tuesday that it will join an international maritime mission set up by France and Britain to help reopen the crucial waterway.

Reporting from the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera’s Tohid Asadi explained that talks between the US and Iran on a peace deal have gotten “a little bit better”.

“Today, we’ve got a joint statement by the Omani and Iranian sides saying they are talking about mechanisms to reopen trade through the Strait of Hormuz. This is a positive indication,” he said.

“However, it remains to be seen how long it’s going to take for the strait to reopen, and until then, we see hundreds of ships stranded on both sides of Hormuz.”

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday and reiterated that Iran would not be allowed to charge tolls in the strait under any final deal with the US.

“It’s an international waterway. No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway,” he said, adding that he believed “all the countries in this region would agree”.

Tehran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, had earlier insisted the Strait of Hormuz “will never return” to the pre-war status quo, despite the foes agreeing to set up communication lines to keep it open.

The UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) is set to evacuate more than 11,000 sailors who have been stranded in the Gulf because of the US-Israel war against Iran.

IMO secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez said the “large-scale operation” would be carried out in cooperation with Iran, Oman, the US, other coastal states in the region and the maritime industry.

“We have secured the necessary safety guarantees and have thoroughly verified the conditions for safe navigation to support these operations,” he added.

An interim deal was signed last week to end the conflict, but both the US and Iran continue to clash on details of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

The US has said the MoU includes guarantees that Iran’s nuclear weapons programme will come under inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

US President Donald Trump posted on social media on Tuesday: “Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infinity!!!). This will insure ‘Nuclear Honesty.'”

Shortly before Trump’s post, Iran said the UN watchdog would not be able to inspect nuclear sites bombed by the US and Israel last year.

In response, a US official said: “the Iranians have agreed to robust IAEA inspections of the remains of their nuclear weapons programme. The Iranian regime will say what they have to say for their domestic audience.”

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said during a visit to Pakistan on Tuesday that Iran “will never negotiate with anyone, under any circumstances, ever, about our defensive capabilities”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio began a tour of the Gulf on Tuesday in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and will also visit Kuwait and Bahrain – which both host US military bases – to discuss the deal with Tehran.

The secretary of state warned on Tuesday that no country is allowed to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been pushing to charge ships passing through.

“It’s an international waterway. No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway. That’s existing international law,” he said as he arrived in the UAE.

“I don’t think we have anybody to convince around here in that regard. I think all the countries in this region would agree with us.”

SWIMMING with sharks in the dark and no cage? Well that is a Jaws-droppingly bold idea.

Just a couple of hours after arriving at the Sun Siyam Iru Veli resort in the Maldives, and being wowed by my over-the-water villa, I’d plunged straight into the aquatic action with an intense but exhilarating experience.

My group of five guests would be night swimming by a coral reef with nurse sharks, which are generally docile around humans.

But they are up to 10ft long and have around 75 teeth!

As the sun set over the Indian Ocean, we gathered at the dive centre to get kitted out and be briefed by guides Alex and Ammaday.

I’m an experienced snorkeller, but it took me a while to get the hang of following the group and coping with the current and waves.

WAIL OF A TIME

I drove Irish Route 66 with deserted golden beaches and pirate-like islands

TEMPTED?

Tiny ‘Bali of Europe’ town with stunning beaches, €3 cocktails and £20 flights

I was definitely not hanging back to avoid being first on any shark buffet.

Armed with underwater torches, we spotted colourful fish and corals before several nurse sharks swam towards us, some of which were 8ft in length. Absolutely fin-credible.

It is one of various extra-charge activities (£80pp) at the cosy five-star all-inclusive resort in Dhaalu Atoll, now with Privé Collection status after Maldivian-owned Sun Siyam rebranded to mark its 35th anniversary last year.

And now that the Foreign Office has scrapped its advice against travel to destinations such as Doha, flights to this sun-soaked hotspot will be smooth again.

The bucket-list experiences don’t end with sharks.

Another on offer at this resort is the chance to be “cast away” on a desert island, a couple of miles offshore and only accessible by speedboat.

Just us and a resort host on a 200-yards-long by 30-yards-wide sandbar surrounded by pristine sea that’s perfect for snorkelling.

Like the radio show, your Desert Island Discs-covery comes with a “luxury item” — a Japanese bento box and prosecco lunch under a sunshade to refuel you while you enjoy blissful seclusion (experience costs £158pp).

There are plenty of activities included in the price of a stay, too, including guided daytime snorkel tours of the house reef (I found Nemo) and a trip to neighbouring island Ban’didhoo, where some of the 125-villa Iru Veli’s staff live.

Most of the 600 inhabitants work in the fishing industry and our guide Altho showed us the marina where mackerel, yellowfin and bluefin tuna are landed.

To stop overfishing, only rod and line is legal.

After checking out the 17th-century coral-walled mosque, kids’ parks, outdoor gyms and a football ground financed by Sun Siyam, I nosed around a souvenir shop, a 24/7 convenience store (Maldivian WD-40, who knew?) and the small shipyard by the beach.

While there are no resorts on this local island, there is one guest house, the friendly Divhoni, with clean rooms from £55 a night B&B. It’s well worth seeing where Maldivians actually live and work.

As for the other excursions, guests staying at Iru Veli are also entitled to a complimentary sunset cruise to spot dolphins, and £77pp spa credit or scuba, if PADI certified.

All of the swimming and snorkelling requires high energy and the resort’s restaurants can certainly help with that.

Much as I liked the food at the Aqua Orange main buffet, which is included in the price of a stay (the butter chicken curry with ginger pickle was awesome), the most memorable meal was at extra-charge Japanese-themed Teppanyaki, with incredible egg juggling, groan-worthy jokes and stellar chicken, steak, lobster and yellowfin tuna from chef Irvan (set menu £108pp and veggie £71pp). No prizes for guessing where the tuna came from.

One paradise island is never enough, though, and I spent the second half of my week at Sun Siyam’s five-star Iru Fushi resort in the North Male Atoll; like Iru Veli, a 45-minute seaplane transfer from the international airport.

And no sooner had I arrived than I was leaving!

Wild horses couldn’t normally drag me away from a tropical beach, but the throbbing 200 horsepower of a four-seater white “Rolls-Royce” jet car was irresistible.

After a briefing, I was behind the wheel of the £51,000 car-boat, driving across the ocean and getting 007 vibes like the scene with the aquatic Lotus Esprit in the movie The Spy Who Loved Me.

But you don’t have to be a secret agent facing down metal-mouthed baddie Jaws to bag this showstopper.

Starting at £94 for two, you can take the jet car out (escorted by a guide on a jetski) for a thrilling 45mph blast across the ocean that you’ll be telling your mates about for months.

Add drone videos to smash it on socials.

It’s one of various extra-charge activities at the gorgeous Luxury Collection all- inclusive resort.

Others include an Insta-fave floating breakfast in your villa’s infinity pool (£108 for two with fizz).

But there’s so much already included, you can have a brilliant week without spending more than the cost of your holiday in this archipelago of 1,200 islands.

Top of your list will be the Secret Sundowners pop-up bar (alcoholic and non- alcoholic cocktails at Sun Siyam resorts are terrific), wine tasting, kayaking and SUP, guided reef snorkelling and the excellent Sax On The Beach music session.

Food is also a highlight of any Maldives getaway and Sun Siyam’s inclusive restaurants and buffet are so good, you don’t necessarily need to visit a la carte venues.

However, the prawn thermidor I had at Islander’s Grill was sensational.

As was my accommodation, an over-the-water butler-service villa larger than some flats I’ve lived in and with an infinity pool, spa bath and direct sea access.

Iru Fushi has 221 villas and you will rack up your daily steps count getting around this sizeable resort, be it to the dreamy, award-winning Thalgo spa, Fluid bar and its terrific family pool, the adults’ pool and adjacent beachfront No Mistake bar (an unmissable spot), the highly-rated (and included) curry and pan-Asian restaurants or the water sports and dive centre.

You could just lie on the blissful beaches in the Maldives — or you could also drive on the sea like Bond and swim with sharks in the dark.

The choice is Jaws . . . 

ATLANTA — Bina Ramroop broke down in tears when she realized she wasn’t going to get the World Cup tickets she had bought for her grandson’s 13th birthday.

As thousands poured into Atlanta Stadium on Monday to see Spain face Cape Verde in what turned out to be a remarkable scoreless draw, Ramroop stood outside, increasingly stressed as she went back and forth for hours between StubHub representatives on the phone and FIFA representatives in the ticket booth. Each blamed the other.

No one could figure out why the tickets Ramroop bought months ago on StubHub for $485 apiece couldn’t be transferred from the original seller to the FIFA ticketing app. StubHub offered her a refund and, as Ramroop heard the crowd roar for the start of the match, she knew she had no choice but to give up and take the offer.

“I didn’t want a refund, I didn’t want my money back,” Ramroop said. “I wanted to go to the game.”

The World Cup has delivered thrills on the pitch, but fans have flooded social media with complaints about tickets that never arrived, orders that were canceled at the last minute and hours they spent trying to sort out problems between FIFA’s ticketing system and outside resale platforms.

The vast majority seem to be about industry titan StubHub, but people who bought through competitors such as SeatGeek and Vivid Seats have also reported issues. Interviews with fans and industry experts show that some cases stem from technical glitches in the transfer process, while others could involve sellers who never had tickets to deliver in the first place, though StubHub denies such sales happen on its platform.

A grandmother’s disappointment

FIFA has urged fans to buy resale tickets through its own marketplace, where it slaps a 30% surcharge on every resold ticket — 15% each from the buyer and seller. But many fans bought through other resale sites, either out of habit or because those sites have lower prices or are easier to navigate.

Ramroop didn’t realize she was taking a risk when she bought through StubHub, which she had used in the past without issues.

As she and her grandson Elijah Gomes took the long, lonely train ride back to the Atlanta suburbs, Elijah followed the score on his phone. The match had ended scoreless, and he tried to cheer up his devastated grandmother by telling her they hadn’t missed much after all (Cape Verdeans would beg to differ ).

“He’s telling me, ‘Grandma, it’s OK, Grandma.’ And he’s trying to console me,” Ramroop said the next day.

She was hardly alone. An Associated Press journalist witnessed more than a dozen frustrated fans at the match who said they were stuck in similar situations.

StubHub blamed FIFA for the transfer problems that buyers like Ramroop have experienced. In a statement, it said FIFA has “poor technology infrastructure,” enacted last-minute transfer restrictions and didn’t launch its new ticketing app until a few weeks before the tournament. The company also called out organizers that “take anti-competitive actions” that limit where fans can buy and sell tickets.

Asked about the technical issues, FIFA on Wednesday reiterated that sales through its official site are guaranteed to go through.

An industry’s longstanding problem

Industry observers say the problems appear to stem from more than one cause. For some, it may indeed be technical glitches — an issue that StubHub says is “very, very rare” and one that it is hard at work to solve. For others, they say it’s likely a more longstanding scourge: speculative sellers.

Scott Friedman, an industry veteran and co-founder of a consultancy called the Ticket Talk Network, said some sellers list tickets before they actually have them, betting that prices will fall closer to the event so they can buy the tickets at a better price later. But because World Cup ticket prices have surged since the tournament began, those sellers have been forced to either buy expensive tickets to fulfill their orders or cancel and accept penalties from resale platforms. StubHub’s penalties are typically 200% of the ticket price, Friedman said.

“This is not new at all,” said Friedman, pointing to other high-profile events where frustrated fans were left empty-handed, including Taylor Swift’s Eras tour. “This has been going on, but it’s making global news because it’s the World Cup.”

StubHub says it requires sellers to prove they have tickets before they list them.

But regardless of the reason for the canceled sales, Friedman said “StubHub should fill every single order to make sure fans get in the biggest global sporting event that happens every four years.”

That’s what many fans say they expected when they purchased through StubHub.

StubHub’s FanProtect Guarantee promises replacement tickets or a refund if tickets fail to arrive. But the policy repeatedly says those remedies are provided at StubHub’s “sole discretion,” meaning the company can choose a refund instead of securing replacement seats.

“That is pretty explicit language,” said Michael McCann, a sports law expert at the University of New Hampshire. McCann noted that a buyer could try to challenge the language under state consumer protection laws, but it would be an uphill battle.

A father’s regrets

Pape Ndaw is crestfallen that the high school graduation gift he got for his son — tickets for them to see the Netherlands and Japan near their home city of Dallas — never arrived.

He bought the tickets for about $550 apiece in December. Then, two days before the June 14 match, he received an email from StubHub telling him, “The seller can’t deliver your original tickets.”

Ndaw accepted store credit rather than a refund, thinking he would use the funds to quickly get replacements, only to then realize that the cheapest last-minute tickets were going for more than $1,500 each. Not only were they not going to get to go to the game, but Ndaw said StubHub rejected his belated request for a refund instead of store credit.

Breaking the news to his soccer-obsessed son was brutal, Ndaw said.

“It was a disastrous thing,” he said. “He had told all his friends that he was going to that game. He literally cried. I mean, he is a 17-year-old kid, but he cried.”

A family’s attempt to make the best of it

Others fared somewhat better.

Patrick O’Neil of Pittsboro, North Carolina, traveled to Atlanta with his wife, son and relatives after purchasing five tickets through StubHub for the Spain-Cape Verde match. Two tickets transferred successfully, but three never arrived.

O’Neil’s 15-year-old son and his uncle ended up using the two tickets, while O’Neil, his wife and another relative watched from a nearby bar.

After local media caught wind of their ordeal, O’Neil said StubHub contacted the family and offered tickets to another game. Since the family had already bought tickets to one, though, he and his wife asked the company to instead give the seats to local nonprofit Soccer in the Streets so they could go to people who otherwise might not be able to attend a match.

“StubHub is not evil, but they’re part of the whole system that makes it really hard for just normal kids and people who might want to see a match get to go,” O’Neil said.

On Thursday, a StubHub representative confirmed to the AP that the company would honor the O’Neils’ request and send tickets to the nonprofit.

Rico and Megnien write for the Associated Press.

YOU’D expect delays at an airport this summer because of EES checks or bad weather, but what about turtles?

On the island of Zante in Greece, the conservation of its loggerhead turtles has seen passengers ‘stranded’ due to a night-time flight ban .

The summer months in Zante are the most important for the island’s loggerhead turtles which are also called ‘Caretta caretta’.

The turtles nest on the beaches between May and August during the night.

But this can be easily disrupted if there are loud noises and lights from aircraft nearby.

So to safeguard the turtles, a night-time flight ban is in place between 10PM and 5AM.

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While this is great for nature, it can mean some passengers can find their travel plans disrupted.

The woman found that when her flight was suddenly cancelled late at night, she had to wait until the following morning for it to be rescheduled.

She previously said on TikTok: “Basically, my flight home was meant to be at 10pm, and at five to 10 I knew we’d be delayed as we weren’t boarding the flight.

“But at literally five to 10 they announced on the speaker ‘sorry everyone, flight has been delayed until tomorrow.”

She added: “Basically, pretty much everything at Zante Airport shuts at 10pm. So if you have booked a really late flight and it gets delayed for whatever reason, past 10pm, they will just delay you to the next day.”

Her journey home was delayed all-in-all for 24 hours.

It’s well known by airlines and Skyscanner even has a warning on its website about the restriction.

It says: “Do take note that during the summer, flight operations are purposefully paused between 10 PM and 5 AM to safeguard the sea turtles nesting near Kalamaki beach, ensuring minimal disruption to nature while maintaining an efficient travel experience for you.”

The restriction isn’t new and was first brought in during the early 1990s to safeguard loggerhead sea turtles.

The turtles are strictly protected under EU law and the species is considered ‘vulnerable’ across the world.

Zante is an important place for the animals as 80 per cent of loggerhead sea turtles in the Mediterranean nest on the island.

For visitors who head to Zante, they’ll find that aside from its famous Shipwreck Beach, one of the other most popular attractions is seeing the loggerhead turtles.

Your best chance of seeing them is by heading to the Marine Park and going on a diving excursion.

Laganas Bay is a prime spot for turtle-spotting as many of them nest on its shores.

They’re easily seen in the waters too because it’s so shallow.

ANOTHER Brit was banned from boarding his flight home due to confusing passport rules recently introduced.

Dad-of-two, Kyle Harris, was refused boarding onto his booked Jet2 flight from Kefalonia in Greece back to the UK due to only having an American passport.

The 39-year-old had been on holiday with his wife and two sons and was unaware that new passport rules impacting dual-national Brits was introduced back in February.

Dual-national Brits used to be able to fly back to the UK on their second passport, which in Kyle’s case is his American passport.

However, now, a UK or Irish passport must be shown at the border or the traveller can get a digital ‘certificate of entitlement’, but this would cost a steep £589.

Ruth – Kyle’s wife – wrote on Facebook: “Imagine being told your husband can’t come home to the UK – despite living there for 39 years, paying 24 years of tax and national insurance, attending nursery, primary and secondary school, raising British children and building his entire life there.

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“That’s exactly what happened to us on Saturday.

The family has had to extend their time away and has reached out to the British consulate in Greece as well as the Foreign Office in London.

Ruth added: “Not once during booking, travel, or check-in were we warned this could happen.

“Nor have we seen any of a large campaign that has apparently taken place to ensure people travelling this way know. This situation needs attention.

“How can a system be rolled out with so little communication that someone who has lived in the UK virtually their entire life suddenly feels unwelcome, forgotten, and forced to prove they belong?

“Right now my husband feels more like a foreigner than a citizen of the country he calls home.”

A Jet2 spokesperson said they were “sorry” for the situation but added: “Our cabin crew acted in accordance with government legislation and sought guidance from the Home Office, as the passenger did not have the correct documentation at the time of travel.

“We advise all customers to check Foreign Office travel requirements before travelling.”

The change comes as new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) has been introduced, which requires all Brits to enter the UK on their British passport.

The change comes as the new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) has been introduced, which is a £20 digital travel permit required from all non-British travellers entering the UK.

Dual-national Brits are not able to apply for one.

He also isn’t the first person to fall victim to the new rules – back in April, 26-year-old Natasha Cochrane De La Rosa was left stuck in Spain after trying to return to the UK without a British passport.

A British-French student was stuck in Madrid for the same reason, as well as an 18-year-old British-Danish student who was banned from her return flight to the UK from Mumbai.

Hundreds of passengers were left stuck at major UK airports as airlines included British Airways cancelled departing flights alongside hundreds of other delays

Hundreds of passengers have been left stranded at major UK airports after several flights have been cancelled.

British Airways were one of many airlines who cancelled flights on Friday, May 15, leaving travelers stuck at several airports across the nation.

The significant wave of disruption saw a total of 465 flight delays and 25 cancellations on the one day.

Flights from British Airways, American Airlines, Norse Atlantic Airways, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines were among those impacted.

London Heathrow was the most significantly impacted, with 233 flights delayed.

A total of 22 flights were also cancelled from the busy travel hub, with 17 of these being British Airways flights.

At Gatwick, cancellations were kept to a minimum with only one British Airways journey called off.

Despite this, 142 flights from the London airport departed later than scheduled.

In Scotland another British Airways flight did not go ahead, with a further 58 delays logged from Edinburgh airport.

Glasgow also saw a cancellation from British Airways.

The disturbance comes as the travel industry is suffering at the hands of the Middle East conflict due to hiking fuel costs as the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked.

Data shows that airlines have dramatically ramped up flight cancellations for May as jet fuel costs continue to soar.

In total, Cirium recorded 296 departures from UK airports scrapped this month as of Tuesday; a sharp rise from 120 cancellations just six days earlier.

Last week, British Airways’ parent company IAG warned its profits will be hit as it expects to spend about two billion euro (£1.72 billion) more than planned on fuel this year.

Chief executive Luis Gallego said IAG does not believe there will be “any interruption for the summer” in terms of jet fuel supplies.

“For the good of Iran, the Middle East, and the United States, we have told these Countries that we will guide their Ships safely out of these restricted Waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business,” he said in a post on social media without specifying which countries.

May 2 (UPI) — Spirit Airlines closed Saturday morning, with no options for those already booked on the airline.

“Unfortunately, despite the company’s efforts, the recent material increase in oil prices and other pressures on the business have significantly impacted Spirit’s financial outlook,” the airline said in a statement. “With no additional funding available to the company, Spirit had no choice but to begin this wind-down.”

All flights are canceled, and passengers shouldn’t go to the airport, Spirit said. Those who booked directly with the company will get refunds, but others should reach out to their travel agent or booking site, the company said.

The company reported around 17,000 employees as of the shutdown.

“We’ve activated our airline partners to ensure passengers are not stranded, communities maintain route access, fares do not skyrocket, and Spirit’s workforce is connected to new job opportunities,” Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a statement.

United, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest are all capping ticket prices for Spirit customers who now need to rebook cancelled flights, Duffy’s statement said. But those prices will only be available for 72 hours.

Spirit declared bankruptcy in 2024 and 2025. The company hoped to overcome its most recent bankruptcy, but high fuel prices brought on by the war in Iran have stymied those plans.

Last week, President Donald Trump said the government could buy the airline, and it has been working on a $500 million rescue plan that would give the government a large ownership stake. But the company couldn’t get support between bondholders and the government for the deal.

Trump told reporters at the White House Friday that an announcement about Spirit was coming within the next couple of days.

“I guess we’re looking at it. If we could do it, we’d do it, but only if it’s a good deal,” Trump said about a bailout plan. “But if we can’t make a good deal – no institution’s been able to do it. I said I’d like to save the jobs. … I would say we’re driving a tough deal, but it’s one of those things. We will do it or we won’t.”

Spirit CEO Dave Davis explained the shutdown.

“The sudden and sustained rise in fuel prices in recent weeks ultimately has left us with no alternative but to pursue an orderly wind-down of the company,” Davis said in a statement. “Sustaining the business required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not procure. This is tremendously disappointing and not the outcome any of us wanted.”

Spirit customer Angela Moreno told NBC News that she was planning to fly from Fort Lauderdale to Nashville for a wedding Saturday.

“The whole family is going there from different states, so it’s very shocking,” she said. “There’s many people who cannot attend the wedding as of now.”

She said she’s struggling to find replacement tickets.

“They’re refunding the tickets, but the only tickets right now are $600,” she said. “I hope the best for those people who really needed that flight.”

Henry Hartevelt, airline industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group, told The Washington Post that Spirit was struggling long before the war. Bad business decisions, overexpansion and loss of focus caused its internal issues, and increased competition from other budget airlines added to its woes.

Spirit’s core demographic earns less than $80,000 per year, and those customers took the brunt of the inflation hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, he added.

“So [there’s] no single cause of Spirit’s demise, but Spirit has been teeter-tottering on the verge of shutting down for a long time,” Harteveldt told The Post. “It’s very unfortunate. More than [17,000] people may lose their jobs if it does shut down, and we lose an airline and a source of price competition.”

Major airlines cancelled 34 flights with 272 more delayed on Sunday, April 26, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at several different airports

Hundreds of passengers have been left stranded after 34 flights were cancelled and a further 272 delayed across the region.

Widespread disruption was recorded throughout aviation networks across Australia and New Zealand on Sunday,April 26.

Travellers were left stuck at major airports, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Wellington, Auckland, and Christchurch.

Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia were responsible for the bulk of the cancellations, though the knock-on effect was felt throughout the broader travel network.

New Zealand saw numerous flights fail to operate, while Australian passengers endured lengthy hold-ups, reports the Express.

Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport bore the brunt of the delays, with 84 flights failing to depart or arrive on time.

A further seven flights from the Victoria airport were also axed throughout the day, all of which belonged to either Virgin Australia or Jetstar.

As Australia’s busiest airport, Sydney recorded the highest number of cancellations, with 10 flights failing to take off and leaving scores of passengers stranded.

A further 69 flights at the airport also faced significant delays.

Brisbane was similarly affected, with 62 flights experiencing considerable hold-ups and lengthy waiting times.

Across New Zealand, Auckland was hit with eight cancelled flights and 44 delays, with the disruption particularly affecting long-haul connecting services from the country.

Wellington experienced fewer disruptions overall, though four flights were still cancelled.

The travel disruption comes amid mounting concerns surrounding air travel as a result of the ongoing Middle East conflict and rising fuel costs.

While this is not considered the cause of the current chaos, New Zealand airlines have spoken out about the impact that soaring energy prices are having on the industry.

On April 7, Air New Zealand announced that it would reduce flights throughout May and June and increase ticket prices, noting it had been amongst the first carriers to introduce widespread fare hikes when the conflict erupted.

Passengers affected by the travel disruption have been advised to get in touch with their airlines to discuss compensation.