Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Travellers stranded by a widening war in the Middle East began departing the United Arab Emirates aboard a small number of evacuation flights on Monday, as governments around the world worked to extract their citizens from the region.

A majority of evacuation flights are headed toward Istanbul, London or Rome, Kula said, with light flight jet trips from Muscat to Istanbul selling for more than $93,000, about twice the usual rate, and rates for heavy jets making the same trip are reaching up to $140,000.