Surreal scenes: Stranded in istanbul

Istanbul: It was a surreal moment. At Istanbul's modern international airport passengers due to board Turkish Airways flight 1382 to Tbilisi were watching their homes burn on TV news.

Three families from Georgia had been holidaying in Turkey when Gori was attacked and were desperately trying to get back into Georgia even though they knew that returning to Gori was out of the question. Other families had given up trying to get back and decided to extend their stay in Turkey for as long as their money could last.

"What choice do we have? We want to get back to Georgia but on Saturday we saw the place where we live had been attacked by Russian jets. We want to get to Tbilisi at least but it doesn't look good," they told Gulf News.

The flight like those on previous days had been cancelled. Tbilisi airport was shut, but not just because of the violence in South Ossetia and Gori.

- Tom Clifford will be reporting on the conflict in Georgia from in and around the war zone