It has been claimed by solicitors that passengers and staff members of British Airways who were held hostage in Kuwait want to bring a lawsuit against both the government and the airline. This comes after the passengers and staff members were taken hostage in Kuwait.
Barry Manners, a citizen of Kent, was travelling to Malaysia on a British Airways flight in 1990 when Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait. Barry was one of the people who were on board the aeroplane when it had to make an unexpected landing in Kuwait in order to get more fuel.
According to McCue Jury and Partners, the firm represents victims who are seeking to ensure that “the truth is completely known.”
According to BA, data obtained from the government indicated that it had not been alerted about the intrusion.
The government has said that “the blame for this tragedy lies entirely with the government of Iraq at the time.”
British Airways Flight 149 made a successful landing at Kuwait International Airport in the morning of August 2, 1990, just as Iraqi armed troops were commencing their invasion of Kuwait.
Iraqi troops took more than 300 passengers and crew members into custody, marking the beginning of an ordeal that would last for nearly five months and entail Saddam Hussein’s use of them as “human shields” against assaults from the west.
The runway was the location of the crash that happened with flight BA149.
Image caption: The plane crashed on the runway after the passengers and crew had already taken off.
Those who were on board experienced verbal abuse, physical assault, and even staged deaths.
Mr. Manners, who currently resides in Botany Bay in the county of Kent, is reported to have stated in the past as follows: “There were a number of instances when I was informed I was going to be shot, the guard rushed out in a passion, knocked me about a little, placed a pistol against my head, and squeezed the trigger a few inches away.”
A possible source of uncertainty in the presentation
What exactly was the situation with flight BA149?
I left the United States on August 1, 1990, to begin a trip that would eventually take me to India and Malaysia.
Iraqi forces hijacked the jet when it was in Kuwait for refuelling, and they seized all of the passengers and crew members prisoner.
They were relocated to a number of strategically important locations in Kuwait and Iraq so that they would be safer from the strikes.
A strategy quite similar to this one was carried out on hundreds of individuals after they had left the UK.
Five months later, they were finally liberated, but many of them were suffering from post-traumatic stress.
After all of the passengers and crew had safely departed the aircraft prior to its destruction on the tarmac, the aircraft went up in flames.
A possible source of uncertainty in the presentation
Documents that were made public in November 2021 indicated that the British ambassador in Kuwait had alerted the Foreign Office that Iraqi forces had crossed the border an hour before the airliner landed. These documents were made public in the United Kingdom.
According to the files from the Foreign Office that were handed to the National files, the information was never delivered to British Airways. As a result, the airline was unable to take any actions to reroute the aircraft since they did not have the necessary information.
There have been reports that a party of around 10 men who were the first to exit when the plane arrived were members of a special forces unit; however, the government of the United Kingdom has persistently disputed these allegations.
However, McCue Jury and Partners said that “evidence exists” to back their argument that the government and BA “knew the invasion had already begun” when they authorised the plane to land because it was being used to send a team into Kuwait “for a specific military operation.” The reason for this was because the jet was being used to send a team into Kuwait “for a particular military operation,” according to McCue Jury and Partners.
The corporation has said that it intends to pursue the claim to the High Court in London at some point over the subsequent several months.
It said that each of the hostages “may seek an estimated average of 170,000 each in damages.”
There is a photograph of Stuart Lockwood and Saddam Hussein together.
Caption this picture as follows: a kid of five years old Saddam Hussein was photographed with Stuart Lockwood. Saddam Hussein was aiming to show to the world that the hostages were being treated for in a compassionate manner by having this photograph taken.
Several of the hostages developed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a consequence of being abused and seeing horrible deeds when they were kept prisoner. This was caused by the combination of being held captive and being mistreated.
“We were considered not as citizens but rather as interchangeable puppets for the purpose of commercial and political advantage,” Mr. Manners is quoted as saying.
According to what the author has said, “A victory over years of cover-up and bare-faced denial would help restore trust in our political and judicial process.”
“The culpability for these events and the abuse of those passengers and crew lies wholly with the government of Iraq at the time,” remarked a spokesperson for the government. “The accountability for these events and the maltreatment of those passengers and crew rests fully with the government of Iraq at the time.”
The following statement was sent by a spokesperson of British Airways: “Our hearts go out to all those who were caught up in this awful act of violence a little more than 30 years ago and who had to go through a genuinely dreadful event.”
“In 2021, data stored by the UK government were made public, and they indicated that British Airways had not been told about the invasion,” “In 2021, data retained by the UK government were made public.”
