A businessman from Holywood in County Down returned to Belfast City Airport on Tuesday evening after a drone struck his hotel in Dubai. Stuart Carson had been there on business and stayed at the Fairmont The Palm Hotel when the incident occurred on Saturday.

Carson heard loud bangs that morning before observing missiles and drones overhead. The strike shook his room and damaged the hotel's front doors. He took shelter first at a nearby beach and then in the hotel basement.

The following morning, Carson and others ate breakfast at the hotel before moving to another location further north. United States and Israeli attacks on Iran closed much of the Middle East airspace and cancelled thousands of flights.

Carson's initial flight with British Airways fell through. He then arranged travel through Birmingham that brought him back to Northern Ireland.