Chicago-area residents remain stuck in Middle East; Gov. Pritzker calls for evacuation plan
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is asking the U.S. State Department for a plan to help evacuate Americans in the Middle East, as missiles continue to fly and flights get canceled.
As many as 1,500 Americans are believed to be in the Middle East right now, looking for a way out. Some are from the Chicago area.
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After years of trying to visit Israel, Chicagoans Paul Armstrong and his wife, Shaily, were determined to experience Shaily's heritage.
Days into their trip, the war in Iran broke out.
"We got here about a week ago; we knew that there was a possibility. We knew there was a risk. Because we knew about the Army, the Navy build-up in the Persian Gulf, so we were going to come earlier. We were going to come a long time ago. Then, COVID happened. This is our third attempt to come in six years," they said.
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After days of missile warnings and no telling when Israel's airspace will reopen, the couple boarded a bus to Egypt in an attempt to get back to Chicago.
"Not great, but there's a silver lining because we were supposed to go to the Dead Sea on the day that the war broke out. So now we get to go see it at least on the way to Taba. So this is going to be our last final tour of Israel," Paul Armstrong and Shaily Hakimian Armstrong said.
"I don't think that it's set in yet in terms of like the endurance challenge this is going to be," Hakimian Armstrong said.
During a four-hour bus ride to southern Israel, they heard missile sirens in the distance.
"There's been some moments during this thing where it's like you hear the, like is there a siren? Is there not a siren? A lot of the missiles were very concentrated up north, and we were in an area where very few missiles were coming in," Hakimian Armstrong said.
From Taba, Egypt, the couple will hopefully fly to Athens, Greece, then Frankfurt, Germany and finally O'Hare.
"We're talking an extra $1,400 when our roundtrip was originally supposed to be around 12," Hakimian Armstrong said.
If there are no delays, that couple from Lakeview is scheduled to arrive in Chicago Thursday night, some 40 hours after beginning their trip.
They aren't the only Americans stranded in the Middle East.
A group of friends from the north suburbs is in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, where a suspected Iranian drone struck near the U.S. Consulate.
They've maxed out their credit cards, they say, booking one canceled flight after another.
"Physically and emotionally, we really, each one of us hit a wall today at different points and just trying to stay together and trying to keep it together," Leslie Allenspach of Schaumburg said.
Wednesday morning, they said their flight to Singapore was canceled. Their next hope is a flight to Prague on Friday.
While discouraged, they are trying to stay hopeful.
"Something needs to happen," Natalie Potesta of Lindenhurst said. "Something needs to occur quickly, and the organization needs to start now for that to happen."
The U.S. State Department is now preparing military and charter flights to get Americans out of the region.
Some flights from the Middle East, connecting through Europe, were beginning to arrive at O'Hare Wednesday.
Officials are directing travelers to a hotline with a new message Wednesday morning, "The U.S. is committed to helping U.S. citizens who want to leave the region to do so. If you are calling for assistance for travel, please stay on the line."
Still, it's unclear if it could take days or weeks to get everyone out.
The State Department is urging all Americans to register on its website, as transportation plans unfold.
