Prince George's County Councilmember Sydney Harrison Stranded in Uganda Describes Harrowing Return

Prince George’s County councilmember Sydney Harrison spent four days stranded in Uganda after a flight bound for Dubai was forced to turn back when war broke out in the Middle East, leaving him to rebook a route home through Kenya and Paris to Dulles. Harrison said he had flown to Uganda two weeks earlier to volunteer with DHR Ministries, which he described as installing water systems and building schools, hospitals and orphanages.

Harrison recounted the moment the pilot announced the plane would return to Africa. "The pilot came on and says, ‘We have to turn around. We gotta go back to Africa.’ People started figuring out what was happening and then became very unsettled on the plane," Harrison told NBC4 Washington reporter Joseph Olmo. Harrison said the cancelled flights and rerouting followed strikes tied to an escalating war involving Iran that disrupted commercial air service across the region.

An excerpt aggregated by Yahoo and citing WTSP reported that the flight turned back three hours into the leg to Dubai after Dubai Airport was bombed; that specific claim has not been independently confirmed. Multiple accounts, including a video title spotted online, place Harrison on a Uganda-to-Dubai leg at the moment the conflict erupted, matching his description of a surreal experience of hearing "about a war breaking out literally in the same airspace that you’re flying through."

After the plane returned, Harrison said he landed safely back in Uganda but then spent four days finding a way home. He secured an itinerary that took him from Uganda to Kenya, then Paris, and finally to Washington Dulles Airport, and he expected the journey across three continents to take about 40 hours. NBC4 noted Harrison thanked community members who prayed for him during the delay.

Harrison framed the episode in stark personal terms. "I’m gonna be honest: Our lives were spared," he told NBC4, and he urged federal action for other stranded Americans: "I pray and hope that the American government sends some planes — evacuation planes — to get them safe to their loved ones and their family members." He added a human detail about exhaustion and home: "I'm exhausted, man. I want to go home and take a hot shower."

NBC4 also reported separate stranding cases among DMV residents, including an Arlington woman who described hearing explosions during a layover in Qatar and said she still could not get home. Details such as airline names, flight numbers, the specific Ugandan airport involved, and official confirmation of the reported attack on Dubai Airport remain unverified and were not provided in initial accounts.

Harrison’s experience underscores how rapidly regional conflict can strand travelers from the Washington area and how local public officials who travel for service missions can become immediate victims of global instability. He has urged federal evacuation assistance for Americans still trapped abroad while completing his long planned return to Prince George’s County.