On 2nd August 1990, British Airways flight 149 made a scheduled stop at Kuwait International Airport and its passengers and crew were taken hostage by Iraqi troops. Saddam Hussein’s forces had invaded Kuwait whilst the plane was in the air and the people on board were detained for up to five months, being used as "human shields" against western attacks during the Gulf War. The UK Government initially claimed that the invasion took place after BA149 had landed. However, official documents released in 2021 showed the Foreign Office was warned by the British ambassador in Kuwait that Iraqi forces had crossed the border an hour before the flight landed. Now, passengers and crew are preparing to take legal action against the British Government and BA. Lawyers representing the claimants say "evidence exists" that the plane was allowed to land because it was being used to insert a team into Kuwait "for a special military operation.” The government has always denied this claim. Report by Jonesia. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Passengers and crew members on board a British Airways flight to Kuwait in 1990 are preparing
00:07 to take legal action against the UK government and the airline.
00:11 More than 300 people on board flight 149 were detained by Iraqi forces when the Boeing 747
00:18 landed at Kuwait International Airport in the early hours of August 2nd.
00:24 That aircraft was subsequently destroyed, a casualty of what would become the Gulf War.
00:30 Whilst BA149 was in the air, Iraqi troops had begun invading Kuwait and what was meant
00:36 to be a short stop en route to India and Malaysia for many passengers turned into a five month
00:42 ordeal as then President of Iraq Saddam Hussein used the passengers and crew as human shields
00:48 against western attacks.
00:50 I first realised something was wrong when the stewardess asked us to evacuate the plane
00:56 and we went into the airport departure lounge and looked out the windows and we could see
01:03 jets, fighter planes flying over the airport and dropping what looked to be bombs.
01:10 One time I actually looked out and saw an airport security guard being shot running
01:16 across the back of a car park. He appeared to have a rifle and they'd got Kalashnikovs
01:21 and they just mowed him down.
01:23 One month after the ill-fated flight landed in Kuwait, the then Prime Minister Margaret
01:28 Thatcher said this in the Commons.
01:31 The British Airways flight landed, its passengers disembarked and the crew handed over to the
01:40 successive crew and the crew then went to their hotels. This all took place before the
01:46 invasion. The invasion was later.
01:50 However, intelligence at the time contradicted Mrs Thatcher's statement and documents released
01:55 in November 2021 showed the Foreign Office was warned by the British Ambassador in Kuwait
02:01 that Iraqi forces had crossed the border an hour before the flight landed.
02:07 That information was never passed onto the airline, which was unable to divert the flight.
02:12 But lawyers argue other flights were being diverted at the time and BA put its passengers
02:18 at risk.
02:19 Now, 33 years on, the hostages want the truth to be fully disclosed and ensure that due
02:25 compensation is paid.
02:27 There have been claims that a group of around 10 special forces personnel were the first
02:32 to disembark flight 149 when it landed, a claim denied by the British government.
02:39 Lawyers representing the passengers say evidence exists that the plane was allowed to land
02:44 because it was being used to insert a team into Kuwait for a special military operation.
02:50 The evidence we have is not only disclosures from the National Archives over 30 years.
02:56 We have recent admissions by the government, but we also have witnesses who have come forward
03:00 to give statements and that evidence will be something that will be disclosed as these
03:05 proceedings develop.
03:06 After all these years, 30 years of having information withheld, they deserve the truth
03:11 and they also deserve just reparations for being used as collateral, put at risk as collateral
03:16 damage for government's aims in Kuwait at the time.
03:22 All UK-based passengers on BA 149 did eventually make its home, many with post-traumatic stress
03:28 after being subjected to abuse and witnessing atrocities.
03:32 Their claim will be brought to London's High Court in the next few months.
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