JAMAICANS in the war-torn Middle East are being urged to rely on credible sources of information after false reports left many of them believing that the Government was sending a plane to take them home.

This misinformation caused an uproar during a virtual town hall meeting on Wednesday as disappointed Jamaicans in a number of Middle East states griped about what they assumed was a change.

Jamaica’s High Commissioner to India Jason Hall — who is also accredited to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — told the Jamaica Observer that the meeting, which was convened with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kamina Johnson Smith, became tense as some participants joined expecting news that the Jamaican Government would send an aircraft to evacuate them.

According to Hall, the meeting was meant to focus on sharing experiences on the ground, reiterating the messages of sheltering in place, staying away from windows, ensuring compliance with messages from the local authorities, and identifying shelters.

Hall said he also had to provide clarification to anxious Jamaicans who were misled by false reports that an evacuation mission was under way.

“It started off very contentiously. There was a glitch in the platform where I was not able to mute microphones so everybody was speaking at the same time. There were a few people who naturally felt trapped and they, I guess, joined specifically to hear when we are sending the plane, and so some elements were very disruptive,” said Hall.

He stressed that Jamaica does not have the means to organise evacuations and that most countries have been urging their nationals to leave where commercial channels were possible.

“At no point did I say I was evacuating anybody and that’s a critical thing in managing people’s expectations… So when a lot of people are asking questions about Jamaica evacuating them, it was important for me to manage that expectation because we really have no means of evacuating persons. And especially when all other countries are not evacuating their nationals, but urging them to use commercial means, I needed to reinforce that,” said Hall.

He added that the town hall also unveiled that people were being approached by scammers pretending to be representatives of the consular office.

“We encourage people not to speculate because that really fuels further worry. We also urge persons to be vigilant of the sources of news that they consume, because it seems to be the trend nowadays for people to circulate fake news. There was even an attempt, I gather, of some people trying to scam individuals, knocking on their doors, reporting to be representatives of the consular office. So you always have to be vigilant of this third dimension,” said the diplomat.

Despite the meeting’s tense start, Hall said the discussion eventually became more orderly as participants were given the opportunity to raise concerns and receive guidance.

Hall told the Observer that through a registration process, Jamaican officials have so far been able to identify some 200 nationals in Middle Eastern countries, which was his immediate priority after the conflict began.

“At the very outset, we are creating an emergency WhatsApp group that enables information to go one way from the organiser administrator to the members of the group, because it’s important to not clog the group. We don’t want to interfere with that because that’s their own interactivity but certainly we want to ensure a clean, clear channel of communication,” said Hall.

He added that as air routes gradually reopen, the Jamaican mission has started to identify possible commercial travel routes for those who wish to leave.

“We started to think proactively about using India as a staging point, so discussions were held with Indian officials to determine how that would work. The truth is that the Indian visa is free to Jamaicans, and so it was just a function of applying online. We also reinforced that in the town hall to give that as an option so people could apply for the visa online and at least obtain that so that if an opportunity arose to fly out, they could do so through India.

“It would also seem that some people are also taking a bus specifically from UAE cities to Muscat in Oman, it’s about a six- or seven-hour drive, and there are various airlines flying out of Muscat that’s allowing people to get out,” Hall said.

He added that Jamaican officials are also making efforts to provide counselling to those in need.

“To the extent that we are able, we will seek to facilitate that as much as possible.”

He underscored that making contact with the Jamaican consulate in foreign countries was highly important, as examples from the COVID-19 pandemic and the current war in the Middle East have shown the significance of communication in times of emergency.

“The truth is, I think that this teaches us as Jamaicans to think carefully now about when you go on a trip; it’s useful to register with the mission in the jurisdiction that you will be going just because of the way the world is. Familiarise yourself with where Jamaican missions are located,” said Hall.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — A tall smoke plume billows following an explosion in the Fujairah industrial zone on March 3, 2026. Iran’s strikes on Gulf neighbours since February 28, following the US-Israeli attack, forced the United Arab Emirates to shut its airspace, blindsiding travellers who thought they were headed to one of the region’s safest holiday destinations. (Photo: AFP)