A beautiful trip to Cuba became a nightmare for five Edmonton friends who have been vacationing in the island country and are now in Varadero, hoping to fly back to Canada Tuesday evening as planned.

Aysanur (Ashley) Yener and Hazime Gokce say escaping the winter with friends for some sunny weather was a wonderful week away until friends and family reached out to see if they were OK.

“We are all under extreme stress here, and no one knows what is going to happen. Our husbands and children reached out to us after seeing the news about the crisis here,” Yener told CityNews from her resort in Varadero Tuesday morning.