An Ibiza DJ in Abu Dhabi: “Missiles were flying very close to the apartment where I live, exploding right in front of my eyes”

“The building where I live has 53 floors and I saw the missiles coming, passing right in front of my eyes”, an Ibiza DJ says from Abu Dhabi, where he is currently working. The outbreak of conflict with Iran has caught him in the region, and over the past few days he has experienced more than a few “moments of tension”, as he puts it, avoiding the word fear.

“Right now there is a certain sense of calm and normality in the air. We’re waiting for an official government statement outlining the plan, but the day before yesterday things were looking very bad”, explains the DJ, who describes what he has lived through as “like something out of science fiction”.

One of the worst moments this weekend, he admits, came “when the alert went off at night after the first wave of bombings”. “They passed very close to the apartment where I’m staying. Right next to it. They were exploding in the sky, right in front of my eyes”, continues the young man, who prefers to remain anonymous so as not to cause further alarm to his family and close friends.

When the alert sounded, all the residents in the building rushed to seek shelter. “It was really tough. Families, children… everyone running down the emergency staircases while hearing explosions outside, not knowing whether they were going to collide with the building”.

After those difficult moments, he says he now feels the area is “regaining” a degree of calm and that there is “a de-escalation towards peace”. “At least in Dubai”, he adds, explaining that the air defence shield has protected areas beyond the city centre. “Yesterday morning [Monday] was the last time we saw two missiles explode here”, he says. He recalls that a friend in another building saw one of the missiles heading in his direction and phoned to warn him. Later, he sent him a video of the moment: “I get goosebumps every time I watch it”.

Within the “normality” he refers to, he notes that some shops and restaurants “are starting to reopen”. “Despite the circumstances, we are safe and the country offers a very high level of defence protection, which makes us feel safer now that the air defence shield is preventing the bombings from approaching the city and we’re no longer hearing explosions”, he says.

For now, he admits, he is waiting to see “how things unfold” and living with uncertainty about “whether Trump will go all in, whether things will escalate and we’ll have to get out of here quickly through the Spanish embassy”. “I just hope things don’t get any worse”, he concludes.

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