Sand storm had Dutch tourists trapped on Canary Islands

A massive sandstorm on the Canary Islands on Sunday and Monday resulted in hundreds of flights being canceled, and thousands of tourists being trapped at the airports. One family from Enschede spent hours at the airport on Gran Canaria on Sunday and Monday with five young children, mother Elske Trieschnigg said to Tubantia.

After a week's holiday on the subtropical island with her husband, two sisters, parents and a total of five kids between the ages of 3 and 11, the family went to the airport to return home on Sunday, only to see their flight delayed time and again. At around 1:00 a.m. on Monday morning, they realized their flight would not be departing. "They still kept us on the line for another hour. We were all standing still in a bus at the airport for an hour and a half. Then we were taken to the hotel," Trieschnigg said to the newspaper.

Monday morning they returned to the airport, where they finally got on a flight to Dusseldorf after another hours long wait.

The sandstorm resulted in at least 822 flights on Lanzarote, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, and Fuerteventura being delayed or canceled, NU.nl reports based on figures from Spanish airport manager AENA. 

On the island of Tenerife, a hotel was placed under quarantine on Tuesday after one of its guests tested positive for coronavirus Covid-19  At least seven Dutch tourists are currently staying in the affected hotel.