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British Airways Flight 149 was a flight from London Heathrow Airport to Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (the former international airport for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), via Kuwait City and Madras (now called Chennai), operated by British Airways with a Boeing 747-136. The flight never travelled on after stopping at Kuwait International Airport, near Kuwait City, several hours after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait during the early hours of 2 August 1990. The aircraft operating the flight, its passengers and crew were captured by Iraqi forces and many of the passengers and crew were initially detained and later became part of Saddam's 'human shields'. The passengers were later freed, though at least one died during captivity; the aircraft itself was destroyed at the airport in 1991. ==Background== At 18:05 GMT on 1 August 1990,〔 British Airways Flight 149 (BA 149) departed from London Heathrow Airport, its route to Kuala Lumpur took the flight via Kuwait City and Madras. The flight had been delayed several hours due to, according to the captain, a fault in the aircraft's auxiliary power unit.〔Jempson, Mike and Andrew Marshall. ("Was BA 149 a Trojan horse?: The British government faces questions over whether a passenger flight into occupied Kuwait was planned or was an intelligence failure". ) ''The Independent'', 9 August 1992.〕 The flight had a scheduled stopover at Kuwait City; however, this was not cancelled or changed despite media reports of the worsening political situation in the region. Kuwait's larger neighbour, Iraq, had issued demands for territory to be surrendered to its control and had been staging a military buildup on the border between the two nations for weeks. On 1 August 1990, the same day as BA 149's flight, Iraq launched a military invasion of Kuwait.〔 At 01:13 GMT on 2 August 1990,〔 BA 149 landed at Kuwait International Airport and the passengers were disembarked for what should have been an hour wait. The airport was deserted, with little-to-no staff on the ground, and several flights by other airlines had been cancelled at this point.〔 There were reports that, prior to BA 149's landing, British military personnel had taken control of Kuwait Airport's control tower.〔 In September 1990, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher stated that BA 149 had landed at Kuwait hours prior to the invasion.〔("The Gulf." ) ''House of Commons'', 6 September 1990.〕 However, passengers on board BA 149 reportedly heard gunfire and tank activity during their landing at Kuwait City.〔 At 02:05 the passengers began boarding the Boeing 747 for the next leg to Madras. At 2:20 GMT, Iraqi fighter-bombers reportedly bombed the airport's runway. At 4:30 GMT, both the crew and passengers on board BA 149 were transported by bus to the airport's onsite hotel.〔 On 3 August 1990, it was reported that all of the 367 passengers and 18 crewmembers from BA 149 were safe and well.〔("British Airways Passengers, Crew Safe." ) ''New Strates Times'', 3 August 1991. p. 1.〕 The empty aircraft itself was subsequently destroyed on the ground by an aircraft attack during the latter stages of the conflict; the destruction may have been an intentional act of the US military.〔 Alternatively, the aircraft may have been destroyed by Iraqi ground forces during their withdrawal from Kuwait.〔Jempson, Mike and Andrew Marshall. ("Fighters over Kuwait as BA 149 flew in." ) ''The Independent'', 30 August 1992.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「British Airways Flight 149」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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