London: UK Government apologized on Tuesday for not giving warning British Airways that Iraq was about to invade Kuwait before it was caught in one of its flights hostage drama in 1990.
Passengers on BA Flight 149 were unloaded from a Kuala Lumpur-bound plane when it landed in the Gulf state on August 2 of that year, hours after Saddam Hussein’s troops had entered.
Some of the 367 passengers and crew spent more than four months in captivity, including: human shield at the hands of the Iraqi dictator.
The former hostages have long sought answers as to what the government in London knew and when, as well as the special forces on the flight, put them at risk.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told Parliament that Britain’s ambassador to Kuwait informed London of reports of Iraqi incursions at midnight on 2 August 1990.
The BA 149 was already in the air when the message was sent to departments including the Ministries of State and Defense, Downing Street and the MI6 intelligence service.
But it was not circulated to BA, Truss said in a written reply, as it released files on the events at the UK National Archives.
“The call (by the ambassador) has not been publicly disclosed or acknowledged to date,” he said.
“These files show that the existence of the call was not disclosed to Parliament and to the public. This failure was unacceptable.
“As the current Secretary of State, I apologize to the House for this, and I express my deepest sympathy to those who have been detained and abused.”
The BA 149 was officially delayed in takeoff due to “technical problems”, and landed in Kuwait City at 0113 GMT. The city airport was closed after about 45 minutes.
Truss said the files indicated that ambassadors were unsure of the scale of Iraqi incursions, and that no procedure existed at the time to warn airlines or at-risk flights.
It also reaffirmed the government’s previously stated position that UK Special Forces were not on board and “did not attempt in any way to take advantage of the flight”.
BA has always denied allegations of negligence, conspiracy and cover-up.
“These records confirm that British Airways was not warned about the attack,” the company said on Tuesday.
But one of the passengers, Barry Manners, said he did not accept the apology and dismissed claims that no special forces were on the flight.
“Who on earth were they then? Members of a rugby team?” she added. “These were serious people, you only had to look at them … I know they were soldiers.”
A book published earlier this year,”Operation Trojan Horse“, claims that London deliberately put passengers at risk by using the flight to deploy undercover operatives and delay take-off to allow them to board.
Passengers on BA Flight 149 were unloaded from a Kuala Lumpur-bound plane when it landed in the Gulf state on August 2 of that year, hours after Saddam Hussein’s troops had entered.
Some of the 367 passengers and crew spent more than four months in captivity, including: human shield at the hands of the Iraqi dictator.
The former hostages have long sought answers as to what the government in London knew and when, as well as the special forces on the flight, put them at risk.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told Parliament that Britain’s ambassador to Kuwait informed London of reports of Iraqi incursions at midnight on 2 August 1990.
The BA 149 was already in the air when the message was sent to departments including the Ministries of State and Defense, Downing Street and the MI6 intelligence service.
But it was not circulated to BA, Truss said in a written reply, as it released files on the events at the UK National Archives.
“The call (by the ambassador) has not been publicly disclosed or acknowledged to date,” he said.
“These files show that the existence of the call was not disclosed to Parliament and to the public. This failure was unacceptable.
“As the current Secretary of State, I apologize to the House for this, and I express my deepest sympathy to those who have been detained and abused.”
The BA 149 was officially delayed in takeoff due to “technical problems”, and landed in Kuwait City at 0113 GMT. The city airport was closed after about 45 minutes.
Truss said the files indicated that ambassadors were unsure of the scale of Iraqi incursions, and that no procedure existed at the time to warn airlines or at-risk flights.
It also reaffirmed the government’s previously stated position that UK Special Forces were not on board and “did not attempt in any way to take advantage of the flight”.
BA has always denied allegations of negligence, conspiracy and cover-up.
“These records confirm that British Airways was not warned about the attack,” the company said on Tuesday.
But one of the passengers, Barry Manners, said he did not accept the apology and dismissed claims that no special forces were on the flight.
“Who on earth were they then? Members of a rugby team?” she added. “These were serious people, you only had to look at them … I know they were soldiers.”
A book published earlier this year,”Operation Trojan Horse“, claims that London deliberately put passengers at risk by using the flight to deploy undercover operatives and delay take-off to allow them to board.
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