Delivered to the devil?
Why was a British Airways flight allowed to land in Kuwait after it was invaded by Saddam Hussein and the passengers used as human shields, asks Stephen Davis
SKY
- Radio Times Staff
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On 1 August 1990, a British Airways plane left Heathrow bound for Kuala Lumpur. It never made it. Six months later, the shattered tail of the destroyed Boeing 747 sat on the runway at Kuwait airport. Its passengers and crew had suffered rapes, mock executions, assaults and near starvation.
Flight 149 arrived in Kuwait to refuel after Iraq invaded the country. The 367 passengers – including 11 children – and 18 crew were taken at gunpoint by Iraqi soldiers, sent to camps, military bases, dams, nuclear and chemical facilities and used as human shields to prevent the US-led coalition bombing those targets.
Many never recovered from the trauma. “It still haunts us. It’s there every day. You get flashbacks and moments of absolute terror and wake up in the night thinking you are still there,” New Zealand passenger Daphne Halkyard told me.
Now the passengers and crew are suing the UK government and British Airways, claiming the flight was allowed to land, despite warnings, because there was a secret intelligence team on board. The government and the airline are contesting the claim and deny any responsibility.
Briton Jennifer Chappell was a bright, confident 12-year-old travelling with her brother and parents when she was taken hostage; she had her 13th birthday in captivity. In the Sky documentary she accuses the government of delivering her and the other hostages into the hands of Saddam Hussein. The trauma ruined her life. She was robbed of her childhood and sense of trust and she’s still in counselling. Her memories include witnessing a shooting, living in appalling conditions with little food and being driven into the desert fearing she and her family would be shot. Hunger was a common experience for the human shields. Some passengers ended up eating the leg of a giraffe from a local zoo.
Passengers and crew suffered rapes, mock executions, assaults and near starvation
For more than 30 years, I have been investigating the story for my book, The Secret History of Flight 149, and the Sky documentary, both of which feature survivors’ gruelling stories. I have encountered multiple attempts to prevent the truth coming out, including threats and disinformation.
After three decades of denial, the government has admitted that there might have been military personnel on board. In 1992, then Prime Minister John Major stated in writing that there were none on the flight. But in a letter filed this year in defence of the claim, government lawyers now say: “It cannot be excluded that as yet unidentified military or military intelligence personnel were on BA149 by coincidence.”
New evidence includes that of Mohammad Al-Dossari, the head of security at Kuwait airport when the plane landed. “We heard from our security contacts that secret intelligence agents were on board the British airplane,” he reveals in the documentary. “Those passengers were used like chess pieces.”
Stephen Davis.
In 1990, Margaret Thatcher told Parliament that the plane landed before the invasion of Kuwait started. The government finally admitted the truth in 2021 – that BA149 was still in the air, over an hour’s flying time from Kuwait, when the Iraqis invaded.
I’ve talked to those involved in the mission who confirmed the secret team got on board while the plane was delayed at Heathrow. British Airways continues to deny this group boarded, even though this was confirmed by BA crew and their arrival on board was witnessed by many of the passengers.
On 28 August 1990 the women and children among the hostages were allowed to leave Kuwait and the remaining men were home by mid-December. The 747 was blown up on the Kuwait airport runway – the story of who did that deserves its own chapter.
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The hostages deserve compensation for their ordeal and to be told why they landed in a war zone. Passenger Paul Dieppe, from Bristol, put it best when he told me he wanted someone from BA or the government to knock on the door, sit him down and say: “This is what we did. This is how it happened.”
Authors
Radio Times Staff
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