‘I’ve seen more missile interceptions than I care to count’

Gleeds’ global chief people officer Louise Ellis was supposed to be flying back to the UK this Thursday after a 10 day business trip to the Middle East.

But like thousands of other Britons, she is instead stuck in the region after being caught up in the war between the US and Israel and Iran.

She’s on her own and arrived in Doha last Friday after a few days in Egypt. She was due to make a presentation to Gleeds’ 30 staff in the Qatari capital yesterday before heading to Dubai today to do the same to the firm’s 50 staff there tomorrow.

But along with several other Gulf states, Qatar has been attacked by Iran following the decision by the US and Israel to attack the country last weekend.

She’s been stuck in a hotel in Doha since Saturday after seeing firsthand the dozens of incoming missiles and drones, aimed at the nearby US air base of Al Udeid.

“Various alarms started going off on Saturday, all of a sudden I heard really big bangs and I thought we were being bombed,” she tells Building from her hotel in Doha. “They were missile interceptions. I felt my life was under threat on Saturday. I’ve never felt that before. It was very scary.”

In the days since, she has seen and heard more missile interceptions and, according to the local press, as of this afternoon 98 of 101 ballistic missiles have been shot down and a further 24 drones and aircraft have also been downed.

She says that last night she and all her fellow guests at the Intercontinental were woken up by “a massive bang at 1 30 in the morning”. It was two Iranian aircraft that had been shot down.

She adds: “When a missile comes in, you don’t know where it’s aiming for or [if it’s shot] down where the debris is going to land. It is very scary. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

Ellis, who has been at Gleeds eight years and lives in London, says she’ll try and get on a flight to the UK this Friday but they keep getting cancelled despite her being able to book them. She thinks that if she’s left Doha by the middle of next week “I’ll have done well”.

Support from Gleeds has been “amazing”, she adds, staying in almost hourly contact with senior people via a WhatsApp group. She is also hearing and getting messages of support from people across the business. “It gives me faith that I’m not on my own. I’m surprised how optimistic I’m feeling.”

In the meantime, she is continuing to work and is speaking to Building this afternoon sitting outside. “The advice is to stay inside but I needed fresh air,” she explains.

She changed hotels after feeling the information she was getting in the previous one was not up to scratch. “The staff here have been fantastic, the chefs, everyone.”

Her family, she adds, has been finding it hard. Her dad is 90, she has two brothers, while husband Mark and daughters Isbaelle, 25, and Emily, 24, are in regular touch. “They are all worried.”

People stuck with her are a mix of people and nationalities. “It’s quite calm here. The whole hotel is full of holiday makers, business people, a couple of sports teams are here. There’s a lot of Brits, Germans, Dutch, people from the Middle East. It’s Ramadan so there’s no drinking. It’s quite subdued, quite sober, nobody is being frivolous.”

She says she keeps herself occupied with work and visits to the gym. “I keep myself to myself.”

An alternative route out of her predicament is to get in a 4x4 and undertake the six hour drive to neighbouring Saudi and catch a plane from there to the UK. She says she doesn’t want to think about that yet and is pinning her hopes on a flight at some stage.

In the meantime, she has been told by staff at the Intercontinental where to go in case she needs to shelter from incoming missiles. It’s a basement in the hotel.