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중도 성향
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'Thought I Would Perish': Everest Survivor Dawa Sherpa Recounts Ordeal
Dawa Sherpa survived on a few chocolates and snacks he found in his pockets.
"PERISH" · 총 17건
필터 보기현재 지수
50.3
0 = 부정 우세
50 = 중립
100 = 긍정 우세
최근 7일 기준 87,339건을 분석한 결과, 뉴스 심리지수는 50.2(균형)입니다. 긍정 4,284건(4.9%)·중립 80,916건(92.6%)·부정 2,139건(2.4%)이며, 중립 비중이 뚜렷하게 높습니다. 성향 지수는 종합 14.8(중도 균형)입니다.
Dawa Sherpa survived on a few chocolates and snacks he found in his pockets.
Dawa Sherpa disappeared in brutal conditions on the upper slopes of the world’s tallest mountain during the final stages of the spring climbing season.
A Nepali mountaineer who survived nearly a week on Mount Everest said he “chewed ice” to stay alive, as he recovered in a hospital after a miraculous rescue that stunned the climbing community. Dawa Sherpa, 57, disappeared in brutal conditions on the upper slopes of the world’s tallest mountain on May 30 during one of the final climbs of the spring season. With few climbers still on the peak and his oxygen exhausted, relatives had given up hope and begun ritual mourning prayers, believing he had died on the mountain. “I didn’t think I would be alive,” he told BBC Nepali on Friday from his hospital bed. “I thought I would perish this way. I didn’t get lost. As the oxygen ran out, I fell behind. After the oxygen finished, I couldn’t walk.” Left stranded in freezing temperatures near Everest’s “death zone”, where oxygen levels are critically low, Dawa Sherpa said he survived for days with almost no food or water. “I didn’t eat anything for the first two days. Then I began chewing ice. It hurt my teeth. I chewed the ice hard,” he said. He survived on a few chocolates and snacks he found in his pockets. “I soaked them in water and had them,” he said. Dawa Sherpa, also known as “Hillary” after legendary climber Edmund Hillary, had told others after his rescue that at one point he fell into a crevasse before managing to climb out. Jubilation and anger “Stepping on the snow, I stood up and looked above … It felt I could get out from there,” he said. “I then looked for ropes and found one. Then I held on to it and walked … eventually I came down.” He said he walked day and night towards base camp until finally encountering people almost a week later. He was found crawling towards the base camp on the morning of June 4 by the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), a Nepali team that helps set routes on Everest and clean up waste left behind. “Boys from SPCC were going up to collect the waste. I met them. They carried me down.” He was flown to Kathmandu for treatment for frostbite, severe dehydration and a fractured thigh bone, doctors said. “He is doing well. We had a chat,” his daughter Mendo Lhamu Sherpa told AFP. His survival has sparked celebration among fellow climbers, but also anger from family members who accused rescue teams of failing to locate him sooner. Nepal Mountaineering Association president Fur Gelje Sherpa called the survival extraordinary but said the incident highlighted serious concerns over climber safety. “It is irresponsible and inhumane to leave a person behind,” he said. “I believe that an investigation committee must be formed to hold the responsible people accountable for this.” Everest guide Rinji Sherpa, who comes from the same village as Dawa Sherpa, said the climber was highly experienced and familiar with the dangers of high-altitude mountaineering. “He is very lucky, he has had several close calls before but he has survived,” he said. At least five climbers — two Indians and three Nepalis — died during this year’s Everest season. More than 1,000 climbers reached Everest’s summit this season, according to preliminary Nepali government figures, making it the busiest season on record.
A Nepali mountaineer who survived nearly a week on Mount Everest said he “chewed ice” to stay alive, as he recovered in a hospital after a miraculous rescue that stunned the climbing community. Dawa Sherpa, 57, disappeared in brutal conditions on the upper slopes of the world’s tallest mountain on May 30 during one of the final climbs of the spring season. With few climbers still on the peak and his oxygen exhausted, relatives had given up hope and begun ritual mourning prayers, believing he had died on the mountain. “I didn’t think I would be alive,” he told BBC Nepali on Friday from his hospital bed. “I thought I would perish this way. I didn’t get lost. As the oxygen ran out, I fell behind. After the oxygen finished, I couldn’t walk.” Left stranded in freezing temperatures near Everest’s “death zone”, where oxygen levels are critically low, Dawa Sherpa said he survived for days with almost no food or water. “I didn’t eat anything for the first two days. Then I began chewing ice. It hurt my teeth. I chewed the ice hard,” he said. He survived on a few chocolates and snacks he found in his pockets. “I soaked them in water and had them,” he said. Dawa Sherpa, also known as “Hillary” after legendary climber Edmund Hillary, had told others after his rescue that at one point he fell into a crevasse before managing to climb out. Jubilation and anger “Stepping on the snow, I stood up and looked above … It felt I could get out from there,” he said. “I then looked for ropes and found one. Then I held on to it and walked … eventually I came down.” He said he walked day and night towards base camp until finally encountering people almost a week later. He was found crawling towards the base camp on the morning of June 4 by the Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC), a Nepali team that helps set routes on Everest and clean up waste left behind. “Boys from SPCC were going up to collect the waste. I met them. They carried me down.” He was flown to Kathmandu for treatment for frostbite, severe dehydration and a fractured thigh bone, doctors said. “He is doing well. We had a chat,” his daughter Mendo Lhamu Sherpa told AFP. His survival has sparked celebration among fellow climbers, but also anger from family members who accused rescue teams of failing to locate him sooner. Nepal Mountaineering Association president Fur Gelje Sherpa called the survival extraordinary but said the incident highlighted serious concerns over climber safety. “It is irresponsible and inhumane to leave a person behind,” he said. “I believe that an investigation committee must be formed to hold the responsible people accountable for this.” Everest guide Rinji Sherpa, who comes from the same village as Dawa Sherpa, said the climber was highly experienced and familiar with the dangers of high-altitude mountaineering. “He is very lucky, he has had several close calls before but he has survived,” he said. At least five climbers — two Indians and three Nepalis — died during this year’s Everest season. More than 1,000 climbers reached Everest’s summit this season, according to preliminary Nepali government figures, making it the busiest season on record.
Paramedics transport Dawa Sherpa, who was missing for several days in the Everest region, from the helipad at Hams Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal, June 4, 2026. — Reuters A Nepali mountaineer who survived nearly a week on Mount Everest said he "chewed ice" to stay alive, as he...
It had been feared Dawa Sherpa had perished on the mountain, with his family in Nepal's capital Kathmandu beginning last rites before he was spotted by a clean-up team.
Snow arrives in time for the start of ski season, but climate change and El Niño mean it may not stick around for long, experts say Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast There was optimism across Australian alpine resorts this week as their social media channels filled with footage of snow flurries that arrived just in time for the opening of the ski season this weekend. “We couldn’t be more excited,” said the Instagram account of Perisher, the southern hemisphere’s biggest ski resort in Kosciuszko national park in New South Wales, as hands swept the fresh snow from outdoor tables. Continue reading...
Overwhelming sadness. Heartbreaking, gut-wrenching helplessness and rage. That is what I felt when I saw the footage of that poor boy, Henry Nowak. No one should perish like that.
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ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) offloaded 39,786 passengers in 2025 under a “lawful, intelligence-driven and risk-based system” to curb irregular migration and human smuggling, a top official said on Sunday. Speaking to a select group of senior journalists, Immigration Additional Director General Nouman Siddiqui said passenger offloading, often criticised publicly, was primarily a preventive step aimed at saving lives, protecting citizens from exploitation abroad and safeguarding Pakistan’s international image. “Offloading decisions are not arbitrary,” he asserted. They are based on immigration concerns, suspicious travel patterns, document verification, destination-country requirements and established standard operating procedures. The primary objective, he said, was “the protection of human life and prevention of exploitation at the hands of human traffickers”. At least 132 passengers were offloaded from their scheduled flights at various airports across the country in the past year by FIA immigration officers, while 85 of its officials were penalised for misuse of authority during this period, according to a report submitted to the Senate. A National Assembly standing committee was told in December that at least 51,000 passengers were offloaded at airports in 2025 after failing immigration checks, with a large number of them being offloaded at Lahore and Karachi airports. Rising risks and deadly consequences Siddiqui said the crackdown followed multiple tragedies linked to illegal migration routes. Over the past three years, around 460 Pakistanis have fallen victim to such incidents, with at least 377 reported deaths. According to International Organisation for Migration’s (IOM) data, 109 Pakistani nationals lost their lives in 2025 alone while attempting irregular migration. He said the issue gained urgency after the June 2023 Greece boat tragedy, in which a large number of Pakistani migrants perished in the Mediterranean Sea. A high-level inquiry committee formed by the prime minister subsequently recommended stricter enforcement measures, many of which are now being implemented. To dismantle criminal networks, the FIA registered 2,421 cases since December 2024, resulting in the arrest of 3,130 agents. Authorities seized property worth Rs961.71 million, recovered Rs87.7m and froze bank accounts amounting to Rs239.63m. “These figures reflect the scale and seriousness of human smuggling and trafficking in Pakistan,” he said. In many cases, passengers were found travelling through suspicious routes, fake overseas employment schemes, forged documents, fraudulent sponsorships or high-risk transit patterns linked to organised smuggling and trafficking networks, he added. The FIA’s Risk Analysis Unit developed five risk profiles to help immigration officers segregate suspected travellers from genuine passengers. The profiles are reviewed and updated periodically. The measures led to a 75 per cent reduction in deportations related to beggary and a 31pc decrease in deportations due to forgery. Overall deportations from various countries fell 16pc in 2025 compared to 2024. The agency also cited a 64pc reduction in illegal border crossings into Europe by Pakistani nationals in the first two months of 2025-26, according to Frontex data. Two categories of offloaded passengers Siddiqui said offloaded passengers fell into two categories: those offloaded by FIA on immigration or risk grounds, and those not offloaded by FIA, including cases involving airline issues, technical faults, flight cancellations, bad weather, self-offloading, seasonal border closures or requests from other departments. Besides the 39,786 passengers offloaded by FIA in 2025, another 34,688 were offloaded for non-FIA reasons. These included airline-related disruptions and arrests required by Customs, Anti Narcotics Force, Airport Security Force and the police. Facilitation and reforms To reduce inconvenience for genuine travellers, FIA Immigration has established pre-departure facilitation desks at zonal offices to help passengers verify travel documents before ticket purchase. Passengers who believe they were offloaded due to a misunderstanding or incomplete information can approach the concerned border checkpost in-charge for immediate review, and are allowed to travel if found eligible. A 24/7 helpline has also been set up for complaints and facilitation. Siddiqui noted that immigration staff face challenges in making real-time decisions, often under public pressure and media scrutiny. “Many passengers initially present legitimate purposes, but deeper checks reveal links with traffickers or illegal migration routes,” he said, warning that failure to act could expose individuals to detention, exploitation or even death. Reforms underway The FIA has proposed new legislation to strengthen immigration controls and introduce clearer remedial mechanisms for affected travellers. A Joint Working Group comprising the FIA, Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment, and the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis has also been formed. Siddiqui said the forum will facilitate genuine overseas workers holding valid work visas registered with the Protectorate of Emigrants, while strengthening anti-smuggling measures and coordinated immigration controls. He affirmed that the FIA remained committed to balancing facilitation of genuine travellers with effective prevention of irregular migration, human smuggling, trafficking, forged travel and loss of Pakistani lives abroad. The head of FIA’s immigration wing stressed that immigration controls were not merely punitive but protective in nature. “Our goal is to strike a balance — to facilitate genuine travellers while preventing human smuggling, trafficking and the tragic loss of Pakistani lives,” he said.
A Kenyan woman mourns her cousin who perished in the Utumishi Girls Academy fire, leaving 16 students dead. Emotional tributes flood social media in remembrance.
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Sen. Loren Legarda on Monday called for an investigation into the crash of a Philippine Air Force (PAF) trainer aircraft in Tuba, Benguet, which killed two pilots during a military training flight. In a statement, Legarda mourned the deaths of First Lieutenant Ruth Angelique Pasos and Second Lieutenant Cherky Embudo, who perished after their SF-260
Men perish in Val Venosta and near Brescia
More than 30 years ago, in the mountain village of Mbem in northwest Cameroon, the moon and stars in the night sky were the only light young Jude Numfor knew after the sunset. Electricity had not yet reached his rural community. “There was one person in the village with a petrol generator and a small television,” Numfor says. “When he turned it on, all the children would run to his house and peep through the window.” That memory became the spark for Numfor’s mission: to bring electricity to rural communities like his hometown. To accomplish his goal, in 2006 he cofounded Wireless Light and Power, since renamed Renewable Energy Innovators Cameroon, and he serves as its CEO. REI Cameroon designs, installs, and maintains solar minigrids for rural electrification. The minigrids use photovoltaic technology and battery-energy storage systems to generate electricity at 50 hertz. The electricity is distributed through smart meters. In 2017 the company received a grant from IEEE Smart Village to fund the expansion of REI’s minigrid operations and refine its business model. Smart Village supports projects and organizations bringing electricity and educational and employment opportunities to remote communities worldwide. The program is supported by IEEE societies and donations to the IEEE Foundation. The partnership has led to a collaboration developing open source metering, a free, community-driven way of tracking energy usage. Unlike proprietary utility meters, the system allows users, researchers, and utilities to view, customize, and verify how data is collected, ensuring transparency in billing, consumption tracking, and grid management. Smart Village’s support has been pivotal, Numfor says: “It’s not just about money. We share ideas, we get advice, and we have made friends. Entrepreneurship is lonely, but with the [Smart Village] community, it is different.” From teenage tinkerer to entrepreneur Numfor’s first experience of life with electricity was in 2001, after moving in with a missionary family in the small village of Allat. They used solar panels to power their whole home—an unimaginable luxury in Mbem. “I could watch TV, eat ice cream, and turn on lights,” he says. “It made me wish my brothers in Mbem had the same opportunity.” Numfor’s curiosity about electricity was ignited when a motion-sensor solar light in the family’s home stopped working. He tinkered with the device to find out why. “My missionary family told me to play with it like a toy,” he says, laughingly. “I replaced the dead battery with a motorcycle battery and was able to bring the power back for the night.” Jude Numfor [right] testing a rechargeable solar lantern, which aimed to replace hazardous kerosene lamps—known locally as “bush lamps.”REI Cameroon His missionary parents encouraged Numfor to study technology and engineering on his own, as none of the country’s universities offered solar energy educational programs at the time. They built him a library and stocked it with books on engineering, management, and entrepreneurship. In 2006, armed with his new knowledge, Numfor launched Wireless Light and Power with a friend, Ludwig Teichgraber. The nonprofit aimed to replace hazardous kerosene lamps—known locally as “bush lamps”—with rechargeable solar lanterns. These solar lanterns—called “light packs”—were built locally by Numfor and a team of 11 young Cameroonians using PVC pipes, nickel-metal hydride batteries, and LED bulbs. Families rented the lamps for a small fee, swapping discharged lamps for fully charged ones at solar-powered charging kiosks when they ran out of power. The kiosks then recharged the depleted lamps, making them available for the next swap. “The solar lantern was safer and cleaner, plus it gave children a chance to read at night,” Numfor explains. “People loved them.” Between 2006 and 2010, his team replicated the model across several villages. But when the global financial crisis hit in 2008, donor support dwindled, forcing the organization to evolve. “We pivoted from being an NGO to a commercial venture,” he says. “That’s how REI was born.” Building solar minigrids to serve community needs The new company’s goal was to move away from the lanterns and toward full electrification of communities. Villagers’ aspirations changed, Numfor says, as they now wanted to power their TVs, music systems, and mobile phones. In response, in 2010, REI developed one of the first solar minigrids in West Africa. Using locally procured components, the prototype supplied steady power to six households. The minigrid system used 12 123-watt solar photovoltaic panels manufactured by Sharp, 16 12-volt 100 ampere-hour automatic gain control lead acid batteries, and a Xantrex charge controller and inverter. Locally sourced wooden light poles were erected to distribute electricity throughout the village. REI charged each household a fee for the electricity. “It was a product-market-fit moment,” Numfor says. “People immediately asked, ‘When can we get this, too?’” The word-of-mouth, grassroots growth caught the attention of global partners. Numfor connected with Smart Village and in 2017, REI Cameroon received its first seed grant from the program. With that funding, Numfor was able to grow organically and attract additional grants, including one from the U.S. Trade Development Agency (USTDA), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. REI has since expanded to six villages, providing power to more than 1,000 households and businesses. With a dedicated team of 16 people, the company operates in multiple regions of the country, each with unique terrain, languages, and cultural dynamics. “It wasn’t easy,” he acknowledges. “I’m not an academic person—I had to learn everything by doing. [Smart Village] helped me structure the project and grow as an entrepreneur.” Today, Numfor pays it forward by sharing his Smart Village experience and mentoring new entrepreneurs. Launching a coalition for smart metering Minigrids can’t operate efficiently without clarifying operating rules to ensure quality service requirements and consumer protection, while also enabling reliable and effective monitoring of the system, Numfor says. “We need to know how power is being used, detect problems early, and manage the minigrid from a distance,” he explains. Existing commercial smart-meter providers offer limited and proprietary solutions. One major provider left the market, making their technology infrastructure obsolete. “It’s risky for an entire sector to depend on a few companies for such a critical technology,” Numfor says. In 2025, with the help of the Smart Village technical community, Numfor convened a consortium of open-source power advocates, including the Africa Mini-Grid Developers Association, EnAccess, Energy IOT, and NESL. The goal was to develop an open smart metering system that is accessible, transparent, and sustainable for all energy providers. “These organizations are collaborating as Open Advanced Metering Infrastructure [OpenAMI], which is about giving control back to the people who deliver the energy,” he says. Scaling for impact Numfor’s passion has grown from bringing light to local rural communities to bringing light to his entire country. Just 54 percent of Cameroon’s citizens have access to electricity, according to the International Energy Agency. For Numfor, the challenge is not just technological—it’s social and economic as well. “Electricity is the most important enabler of education and economic growth today,” he says. “When you have power, you unlock everything else.” “Electricity changed my life. Now I want to make sure every child can grow up with that same light.” —Jude Numfor Across the villages where REI has installed sustainable electricity solutions, small businesses are flourishing. Barbershops hum with community chatter, food vendors can preserve perishables, and entrepreneurs run companies such as phone-charging stations and small mills. “Some villages even have laundromats now,” Numfor says proudly. “Electricity creates jobs and changes mindsets.” Still, it has been a bumpy journey. It wasn’t until 2025 that REI obtained its official authorization (license) from Cameroon’s government to produce and distribute electricity in off-grid areas using solar minigrids. This was a major milestone because REI is one of the first private enterprises in the country to receive such authorization. “We were stuck between pilot projects and growth,” he explains. “Our projects were successful, and there was community demand for more, but to grow, we needed investors who require legal guarantees before committing funds. Now we can scale up and attract investors.” REI plans to expand its reach dramatically, beginning with 134 new villages identified through a feasibility study supported by the USTDA. Their long-term goal is to electrify 760 villages across Cameroon by 2031. While authorization opens doors, financing remains one of REI’s biggest challenges. “The minigrid space doesn’t attract venture capitalists easily,” Numfor notes. “Our return on investment is under 15 percent, so it’s not a typical tech startup model. The real return here is the impact” on the community. He hopes to attract investors who understand that access to electricity drives education, health care, and entrepreneurship. “There are people out there who want to make meaningful change,” he says. “We just need to connect with them. When you electrify a village, you never know who the next innovator will be. Maybe it’s another kid like me, looking through a window, dreaming.” Finding skilled staff is another challenge, Numfor says. To address this, REI developed an intensive recruitment and training process. “It used to take years to find the right people,” he says. “Now, we can identify who fits our company culture within six months.” Numfor’s wife, Angela Taliklong, who joined the venture in 2010, now oversees administration and human resources. A brighter Cameroon and beyond Numfor offers simple words of advice to other impact-driven entrepreneurs: Keep moving. “One of my mistakes early on was trying to be perfect,” he says. “I was spending time improving prototypes instead of increasing the number of our project installations and scaling how many communities we could electrify. You must keep momentum. Don’t wait until everything is perfect before you move forward.” That mindset, rooted in resilience and experimentation, has defined his journey. Rajan Kapur, president of Smart Village, says Numfor is a “shining example” of the program’s vision: “scalable and enduring impact through local entrepreneurs, local procurement, and community engagement based on the use of IEEE technology in underserved communities.” With the ongoing Smart Village partnership, Numfor is determined to bring light and opportunity to every corner of Cameroon, and beyond. He already has launched REI Nigeria. “Electricity changed my life,” he says. “Now I want to make sure every child can grow up with that same light.”
Doha diary: A historian amid the Iran war miftahul@theda… Mon, 03/16/2026 - 11:04 Image Doha diary: A historian amid the Iran war (Renowned historian and author, Rila Mukherjee, was scheduled to fly from the USA to India by Qatar Airways [QA] on February 25, 2026. Her route—Shreveport–Dallas Fort Worth–Doha–Kolkata—was expected to bring her to Kolkata on the night of February 26 or in the early hours of February 27. However, as of March 8, she was still stranded in Doha. Qatar’s skies were closed due to the US-Israeli attack on Iran. QA’s commercial flights were suspended. At the time of writing, evacuation flights to India were scheduled to start soon. She reached home on 12 March.) Today is 8 March. I am now camping out in Doha for the ninth day since 28 February. The Qatar airspace is shut and padlocked. The authorities have thrown away the key. Limited numbers of passengers are being flown to Europe and the Americas on evacuation flights (they are called ‘relief flights’) organised by QA, and relief flights to Africa and Asia will start from tomorrow. But for the time being, I am effectively marooned in Doha. Doha is one of the largest airplane hubs in the world, and a cosmopolitan group of transit passengers has been put up by QA in the 4-star The Royal Riviera Hotel. The hotel is situated on Doha’s Corniche. It is an ageing hotel; not terribly posh, and the plumbing is a bit iffy. But it is well located, with comfortable rooms, and it is a clean and friendly hotel. I feel safe here. Its staff is composed of Asians (from Bangladesh, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nepal), North Africans (Algerians and Moroccans mostly) and some West Asians. All of them are helpful despite the pressures they are facing. They deal gracefully with the diverse demands and complaints of the passengers. My room faces the Corniche and I can see the Persian Gulf from my window. As a maritime historian, this makes me very happy. This country and its national airline are looking after us very well and, really, I have no complaints. QA’s representatives visit the hotel twice daily. There is no information forthcoming on my evacuation to Kolkata, and the greater part of passenger bags are still to arrive at the hotel. My South African neighbour says one of their bags has not been delivered; perhaps it is lost. We are largely dependent on the clothes we have on our backs and those we had in our carry-on. Most of us are washing and drying them overnight. We have to use the hair dryer if they are still not dry. My bags came in today, i.e., 8 March. There are some elderly travellers. Many of them say that their medicines are running out. Mine will last another week. Will I be able to get out by then? We are told that a limited air corridor may open today; alternatively, we may be evacuated by the land route through Saudi Arabia to Riyadh (this would take around seven hours), where a leased QA aircraft may take us to India. But we have to make our own arrangements for the Saudi e-visa and overland travel. This seems a risky enterprise. And whether this potential leased aircraft would fly me direct to Kolkata is not known. There is no clarity to date. *** But if I was scheduled to arrive in Kolkata on 27 February (and the war broke out a day later, on 28 February), how is it that I am still in Doha Ah, thereby hangs a tale! It is a cautionary tale on buying air tickets with multiple connections, and what ensues when the first connection does not take off as per schedule. *** I had spent nine weeks in Shreveport with my son and daughter-in-law and was scheduled to leave on 25 February. Unfortunately, my flight from Shreveport to Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) by QA’s codeshare partner American Airlines (AA) did not take off. We were told that the incoming flight had nose gear problems and therefore could not land. Ultimately it made an emergency landing. Fire engines, firefighters, EMTs and ambulances were standing by. Luckily, there was no fireball and there were no casualties. The vice-chair of my daughter-in-law’s department was on that flight; I bumped into him in the terminal as he deplaned, and he said that the landing had been really scary. There were no more AA flights to DFW that day. Roo and Stephanie came back to the airport and took me home. I spent a restless night. I hate flying at the best of times. I was put on the same AA flight the next day, on 26 February, but when I reached DFW I was told that my connection flight to Doha was full. Apparently, the AA staff at Shreveport Regional Airport knew there were no seats on that flight; nevertheless they sent me on to DFW hoping I would ‘sort out’ the matter with AA’s customer care there. The only ‘sorting out’ that AA did at DFW was to put me on a later QA flight to Doha on the same day, that is, late evening on 26 February. It was a smaller aircraft (not the Airbus 350 on which I was ticketed), the flight was cramped and some of my co-passengers were not very well behaved. One lady kept on drinking; she skipped the meal service and was quite abusive. Another one, African American, told me that as an ‘American’ she was superior to Asians. Right, I thought, we all know how you as a Black person got there!!! In all my years of travelling I have never encountered such blatant racism. When we reached Doha very late on the night of 27 February (almost 24 hours later due to the time difference with DFW), I had missed that evening’s flight to Kolkata! No problem, QA’s customer care said, we’ll talk with AA as it is their problem. This took a while, so I went off to buy myself a snack at Brioche Dorée in the airport’s food court. By then it was early morning on 28 February. Readers, note the date! *** AA agreed to comp me a room for the remainder of the night at The Royal Riviera Hotel. I was granted a 48-hour emergency visa by Qatar Immigration and I was shifted to the hotel on 28 February at 2 AM. QA’s ground staff helped me throughout. The room was comfortable, the bed looked inviting, and I went to sleep, confident that my Kolkata flight would take off as scheduled at 18.45 hours on that day itself (that is, 28 February). At that point, I was going to reach only 24 hours behind my original schedule. I informed Kolkata and asked my driver to collect me from the airport accordingly. *** On 28 February, I was woken around 8 AM by a strange sound from my cell phone. It was a very loud, continuous screech. I don’t have international roaming and I wondered who was calling me and what was happening. I saw a ‘Security Alert’ on my screen but the text was in Arabic. I started hearing thuds and bangs. Another alert, still in Arabic, came in. What was going on? I was mystified. I was now getting alerts in English. It said the US and Israel had jointly attacked Iran. US bases and embassies and consulates across the Gulf were vulnerable. Qatar was in this critical area. Sirens were going off. I started watching Al Jazeera and Richard Engel on NBC. This was Day 1. Smoke rises following an explosion, after Israel and the US launched strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, February 28, 2026. PHOTO: REUTERS By Day 2, the Gulf was not just lying in a war zone; it had been converted into a theatre of war. Doha was undergoing regular drone strikes and missile attacks. Day 3 was relatively quiet. Apparently, Qatar and Iran had a phone conversation, and Qatar urged Iran to stop the strikes. But our temporary visas were extended by Qatar. This was an indication that the phone call was not conclusive. This war was not going to end anytime soon. The Qatar–Iran conversation does not seem to have yielded the desired result. There is no relief from Iranian attacks. These now form the backdrop to our daily life at The Royal Riviera. Drone attacks and missile strikes re-started from Day 4. None of them target the downtown area; they target only the US base and industrial areas in Qatar. Most of the drones and missiles are successfully intercepted; the few that are not cause localised fires. The attacks usually happen around breakfast and lunch, and sometimes they occur very late at night or in the early morning hours. This means we are always in a state of extreme alert. It is jarring on the nerves. We can neither eat properly nor rest. We are getting stressed out. But I must also mention that the attacks and interceptions sound more like Diwali patakas than the very loud explosions that one expects. *** Days 4 till 9 (that is, till date) have seen this regional war extending from land to sea: from the Hormuz Strait to the Indian Ocean. This is now becoming very serious. Critical choke points like this strait have become a curse. Ports across the Gulf are lying idle; almost no cargo is getting through. But we have had no alerts today. Does this mean that Iran will not strike Qatar for the time being? Is this a temporary reprieve? Will relief flights be able to take off? *** Some bags arrived at the hotel on Day 5. Mine were not among them. By Days 6 and 7 we have more or less settled into what is turning out to be our semi-permanent home. The hotel is no longer very ‘royal’; it has taken on the character of a London bedsit. Or a council housing estate in one of the UK’s inner cities! Children play noisy games in the corridors, an oddly comforting sound among the explosions, security alerts and sirens that go on regularly. I see an enormous solidarity among the travellers, both on my floor and when we meet up at meal times. I have a very nice South African couple next door who check on me each morning, always asking how I am faring (‘please don’t hesitate to knock if you face any difficulties’). They have even offered to take me out to buy clothes (this was before my bags arrived). Elegant MENA (Middle East North Africa) people greet me each day at breakfast, a young Pakistani financial analyst from Toronto shares his insights with me at the breakfast table, and a British couple advise me to carry my passport with me at all times (especially when I leave my room in case of an attack and subsequent fire). They kindly offered to buy me my medicines, although they are at least a decade older than me. A young school teacher from Geneva shares my table at dinner. I have not seen her lately; perhaps she has already been repatriated on one of the relief flights to Europe which started operating from Day 7. The British couple and the South Africans are still here; the Pakistani man left for Toronto early this morning. He was given only two hours’ notice and he phoned my room to say goodbye at 1.15 AM this morning. *** What does my daily schedule look like? It is like what I imagine a day at boarding school would be. Because it is Ramadan, the hotel starts the breakfast buffet from 3 AM, lunch is from 12 noon, and dinner is over by 7.30. The food served (although mild in taste and quasi-institutional as regards the daily menu, which does not rotate much in terms of items), is nevertheless amazingly varied as regards the cuisine: Arabic, Turkish, Italian, Spanish and South Asian (the last is not good at all). A lot of lemon is used in the preparations, but practically no onions. This may be due to the fact that there was an onion shortage; onions came in from India only on Day 5. There are loads of different kinds of salads, some bland European cheeses and diverse types of hummus. In addition, there is feta cheese, stuffed vine leaves, green and black olives, veg and non-veg samosas and spring rolls, koftas, and baba ghanoush or baingan bharta. Good cappuccinos and lattes. Flaky croissants and brioches, pastries and amazing Arabian/Persian/Yemeni sweets. A decadent baked (and often caramelised) bread pudding called Umm Ali is served at dinner. Obviously, the Qatari supermarkets are still well-stocked with FMCG. The Indian-origin Lulu supermarket chain has flown in a whole lot of perishable and non-perishable food items. Strangely, no fresh fruit! *** Gas prices have shot up. I have given up watching the death and destruction on TV, and watch Looney Tunes, Anthony Bourdain, Fawlty Towers and Mr Bean instead. Priyam Paul, my editor at The Daily Star, has sent me some e-books which help to pass the time. When I am not reading, or watching sitcoms, cartoons and travel and food documentaries, I reflect on what brought us to this war. I see the Persian Gulf from my room; it is still a brilliant blue. But it is also desolate since the Hormuz Strait was closed off. I see no cargo ships or container vessels; there are no cruise ships or tankers. For a maritime historian like me, this is not the Persian Gulf I know. After all, it has been a crossroads since recorded history! My India in the Indian Ocean World (2022) documents this history of two thousand years at the very least. Now, mobility is severely constrained. Persian Gulf. Photo: Collected We are living now in a world of fragmented geopolitics, of accelerated climate degradation, and of critical demographic shifts. The world is undergoing these changes along with increasingly disaffected groups of peoples, perhaps terrorists, some of them. We are seeing the rise of AI which, to my mind, is linked, along with the toxicity of social media, with the increasing authoritarianism that we see worldwide. It horrifies me when I see a young nation declare it will bring ‘civilisation’ to Iran. It disregards the fact that Iran-as-Persia predates Arab culture and is one of the world’s oldest culture areas. Not just the glory of Shi’ite Safavid Persia (1501–1736), which political theorists and analysts invoke when describing this civilisational space and whose heritage modern Iran draws on: think of the period from c. 550 BCE to 651 CE (Muslim conquest and start of Islamisation by the Rashidun Caliphate), when four mighty Persian empires ruled a large portion of the then-known world: Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian and Sassanian. Persia challenged Egypt, Greece and Rome, and then it faced up to the Ottoman and Russian empires. This memory of resistance of 2500 years will not be easily erased. However, the total disregard of international law and the collapse of the rules-based order will usher in a new regional order in West Asia. This will impact on the Gulf states. Once-biblical Lebanon is almost destroyed by a rampant Israel. Syria has closed its borders. As a rogue USA intimidates Persia and trains its eye on the Caucasus and Azerbaijan, it also destabilises Iraq. Iranian Kurds based in Iraq have been reactivated. How will this impact on the Turkish Kurds? Turkey, a NATO country, is already feeling threatened. The relatively young post-WW1 statelets in the Gulf will lose out in the violent reshuffle in the greater region. The Dubai story was already over. And Oman had lost its sheen even earlier. Financial and service centres will shift eastward—to Singapore or perhaps to KL. As will global airline hubs. The Gulf states will see their importance in location, business and finance diminish. They will have to reconsider their dependence on the USA which has now become a double-edged sword. Iran will endure, but perhaps in a new form. But it will not be erased from the map of the world. Rila Mukherjee is a historian and author of several books. Send your articles for Slow Reads to slowreads@thedailystar.net. Check out our submission guidelines for detail