BA FLIGHT 149 SADDAM'S TRUE TERROR

THE ‘SWIMMING POOL HOSTAGES’ SPENT MONTHS LIVING IN FEAR AND ARE STILL FIGHTING FOR THE TRUTH TO BE REVEALED

- Kylie Walters

They spent five months being held as prisoners by the Iraqi regime in 1990. But to many, the 385 passengers and crew of British Airways flight 149 don’t even have the right to claim they were held captive after being dubbed the “swimming pool hostages” and “guestages” of brutal dictator Saddam Hussein.

The plane was on its way to Malaysia from Britain when it stopped to refuel in Kuwait City in the early hours of August 2. There, the occupants were captured by Iraqi troops who had overrun the city after Hussein ordered the military invasion of the neighboring country.