This football star fled Iran by car and managed to reach France in just three days

After several weeks of tension and conflict, the United States and Israel decided to bomb Iran, launching a major operation against different areas of the country. Today, residents are urged to leave the territory as quickly as possible to avoid losing their lives. Unfortunately, the airspace was closed urgently and no more planes were allowed to fly. Faced with this exceptional situation, many are turning to land routes to flee the war-torn region, sometimes for hundreds of kilometers, in the hope of reaching the safety of a neighboring country. French-Haitian footballer Duckens Nazon is among the personalities who hastily left Iran.

While the high-level athlete was on the plane to return to France, he was forced to stop his journey due to the sudden closure of Iranian airspace. “I was on the plane, I was on the tarmac ready to take off for Istanbul. We were urgently disembarked from the plane and were told that the airspace was closed because the bombings had started,” explained Duckens Nazon on RMC. Instead, he chose to make a long journey by car with his driver. Thus, the international footballer, currently playing for Esteghlal FC club in Iran, traveled through several countries, including Azerbaijan, until reaching the French border. “I’m fine but I’m very tired and shaken by this very eventful journey. I left two and a half or three days ago (he arrived in France on Tuesday morning). I left the capital at the time of the bombings”, he detailed. On RTL, Duckens Nazon also provided more details about this journey. To avoid worrying his relatives and community, he tried to share as much of his news as possible via the social network Snapchat. “It allows me to have confidence and I see that people interact a lot with me. I know that my family is also on Snap, so it allows me to reassure everyone,” he added.

How was Duckens Nazon informed of the ongoing conflict?

It was a friend who alerted Duckens Nazon to the situation. “I have a friend in Israel and he informed me that the war alarm had just sounded, a few seconds later the captain announced the disembarkation, everyone had to get off, the airspace was closed,” he explained to Céline Landreau. He added, this time on RMC: “He told me they were opening the bunkers and that there were a lot of police movements at the bottom of his hotel. He told me to start making arrangements. He alerted me but there were already noises before. People had been telling us to leave the country for three weeks or a month.”.