Dallas Baptist University students who were in Israel when the war started are now back home in Dallas

DBU students in Israel when war started are back in NTX

As the death toll in Israel continues to rise, the families of the DBU students who were there are relieved their loved ones are back home.

DALLAS - As the death toll in Israel continues to rise, the families of the Dallas Baptist University students who were there are relieved their loved ones are back home.

It’s not uncommon for parents to have nerves as they wait for their child to land at the airport.

Wednesday morning, that worry and wait felt more urgent as a group from DBU were coming home from Israel days after a war started.

A group of five students and other adults left for Israel at the end of September for a Fall break trip.

It was near the end of that trip when Hamas militants launched their surprise attack.

"We were waking up for our morning tour and we didn’t get to go, and we were like, ‘What’s going on?’ and we heard about Gaza," 21-year-old DBU student Kendalyn Burdett recalled.

DBU officials said they were about 40 miles away from the conflict area, but like millions of others, they still heard constant sirens and warnings.

"It was very tense. We were in a very secure location, but we could just feel it all in the air," Burdett said.

Burdett’s father had multiple sleepless nights trying to learn every detail about his daughter’s safety.

"Having little information, learning everything in bits and pieces, texts and phone calls every 8-12 hours since Friday night," Roy Burdett recalled. We are so grateful and we appreciate DBU, Dallas Baptist, with the way they handled everything. They did a very good job in this situation."

Jay Harley is the vice president of student affairs. This was his 12th trip to Israel.

He said flights were the biggest concern in returning. Some of their group arrived in Dallas earlier this week.

"We had a group of three that flew Monday, and they did experience a rocket attack warning at the airport on Monday. We didn’t experience that, but we did experience them in Jerusalem at the hotel," Harley said.

He said DBU has contingency plans for all of its international trips, so they felt prepared.

Harley added that some of the us government officials they worked with happened to be DBU alumni, so that made them more confident about communication and the plan to get home.

"The best way I think to describe it, it’s a lot like what America was like after 9-11, 2001. Schools are canceled, businesses are closed, people are somber, they are distraught," he said.

These families and DBU officials said they will continue to pray for those who aren’t able to escape the war.

Wednesday night, Burdett will hold his daughter a little tighter, knowing the result of this week could have been worse.

"We are going to try and process this and take one step at a time," he said.

DBU said they have five other international Fall break trips going on right now.

They do not feel like any of those groups are in danger.