Furious innocent Britons held hostage by Saddam Hussein for five months in 1990 blast Government 'lies' and say ministers 'let their BA flight land in Kuwait because they had put military spies on board - even though they knew Iraq had already invaded'

 Furious British hostages who were detained for months after their flight landed in Kuwait during the Gulf War have rejected an apology from the Government which claimed their ordeal was the result of an innocent mistake.

The survivors, who were taken hostage by Saddam Hussein's regime in 1990, have accused the Government of covering up the military exploitation of a civilian flight being used to smuggle intelligence officers into the country.

Both passengers and crew members who were on the flight recall a mysterious group of men who were whisked off the plane by a British military official as soon as it landed in Kuwait.

The men were not seen again and survivors say it is 'common knowledge' these men were military operatives who were being deployed to Kuwait, a claim denied by the Government.

Today, newly released documents revealed a warning that Iraqi forces had entered Kuwait was not passed to British Airways even though it had a flight heading to the Gulf State.

Flight BA149 with 367 passengers on board landed in Kuwait in the early hours of August 2 1990, and the passengers and crew were detained by the invading Iraqi forces and held hostage for up to five months.

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New files released today show a warning that Iraqi forces had entered Kuwait was not passed on to British Airways even though its flight BA149 was already enroute to the Gulf state. Pictured: A media appeal issued at the time directing concerns loved ones to information line

Margaret Thatcher misled Commons over BA149, files reveal

Margaret Thatcher wrongly told MPs that the BA flight landed in Kuwait before the invasion by Iraq had begun, according to newly released files.

The documents show that officials believed it might have been possible to turn the flight away if the Foreign Office had warned the airline an Iraqi incursion was under way. 

The Foreign Office has now released its files on the flight amid long-standing claims that the Government allowed it to go ahead, even though they knew of the danger it was in because it was carrying a Special Forces team it wanted to infiltrate into the country.

The papers include an exchange of correspondence from September 1992 between the then prime minister Sir John Major and John Prescott, then the shadow transport secretary, who had been pressing for details of what happened.

In his reply, Sir John insisted there were no British military personnel on board the flight.

He also said that while Iraqi troops had been massing on the border there was no 'firm evidence' that Saddam Hussein was about to invade, still less occupy, the whole of Kuwait.

However, a briefing note prepared by PM Nixon, an official in the Foreign Office Middle East Department, disclosed that the Government was being less than frank about what it new about the Iraqi troop movements.

'We have never made public the fact our ambassador in Kuwait telephoned the (Foreign Office) resident clerk before BA149 landed in Kuwait to say that Iraqi troops had crossed the border,' he noted. 

'The resident clerk did not inform the Department of Transport who might have been able to turn the flight away from Kuwait."

Mr Nixon also expressed concern that when Mrs Thatcher answered questions about the flight in the Commons in the immediate aftermath, she may have misled Parliament.

The then prime minister said the flight landed and the passengers and crew disembarked before the invasion, adding: 'The invasion was later.'

Mr Nixon wrote: 'The then prime minister's statement to the House of Commons on September 6 1990 may have given the impression that the aircraft landed before Iraqi troops crossed the border.

'This was not the case. The flight landed after the initial incursions but before the full-scale invasion was apparent.'=

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss issued an apology on behalf of the Government today and described the failure to communicate the dangers as 'unacceptable'.

As part of her written ministerial statement, Ms Truss said files which have been released to the National Archives did not support claims the flight was used as part of a covert military operation.

Ms Truss said the files released today were consistent with a statement by ministers in 2007 that 'the Government at the time did not attempt in any way to exploit the flight by any means whatever'.

But survivors who were onboard the flight and detained - some for up to five months - have hit out at the statement and said they are still waiting for answers.

BA149 passenger Barry Manners, who was kept hostage by Iraqi soldiers for four-and-a-half months, said he did not accept the Government's apology.

He said: 'It's a lie. I'm gobsmacked they are still saying this. The evidence must be so refutable.

'If the Government was using British Airways as de facto military transport, come clean and admit it.

'I live in the real world, I'm not a snowflake - if they pulled us into a room and said: "Terribly sorry, we had to do it, have a year off paying income tax and here's a gold card for British Airways, keep your gob shut", I would say "fair enough".

'But when people lie to me, then I get upset. So, no, I don't accept the apology. It's a fudge.'

Mr Manners, a 54-year-old retired business and beach cleaner in Botany Bay, Kent, added: 'I am a paid-up member of the Conservative Party ... I believe in democracy and rule of law.

'It's confirmed what so many people have said about this Government, and perhaps all governments, that they lie.

'This seems to me like it's being presented as an unfortunate c***-up.'

He also dismissed Ms Truss's statement denying the handful of people who boarded the doomed flight late were special forces.

He said: 'Who on earth were they, then? Members of a rugby team?

'These were serious guys, you only had to look at them.

'I'm absolutely gobsmacked. I know what I saw going on with that plane. I know they were soldiers.'

Meanwhile Clive Earthy, who was the cabin services officer in charge of BA149, echoed Mr Manners' comments and has said the Government has failed to acknowledge what he says is 'common knowledge' among survivors of the ordeal.

Since 1992, Mr Earthy has been trying to raise public awareness of the issue and called for the release of the Government inquiry. 

He remembers 10 men onboard who were met by a British military official when the plane landed in Kuwait and were taken off, never to be seen again.

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BA hostage Barry Manners (pictured, left, withShammon Roel, resident engineer of the Dukan Dam where Mr Manners was kept hostage, and right, in 1990 when he was 24) has said he was gobsmacked by the Government's apology today and accused them of lying about his ordeal

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BA149 passenger Barry Manners, who was kept hostage by Iraqi soldiers for four-and-a-half months, said he did not accept the Government's apologyHe told MailOnline it wasn't until three months later, while he was still detained at a 'nasty installation' in northern Iraq, that he learned they were military operatives.

'Was I upset? Absolutely. Because the priority was these men who were not fighters, they were observers, they were seen as a priority over 380 men, women and children.

'There's been so many people since then who have looked further into this that it is now common knowledge. But the Government are still not acknowledging that.

'All the minister is saying is that they are sorry that they did c*** up.

'All they are saying is that they did know the flight was going into a warzone and that they had time to divert the plane.

'Their apology does not go far enough to acknowledge what actually happened.'

Mr Earthy says that the results of Operation Sandcastle - the Government's 1993 inquiry into the matter - are due to be released to the National Archives next month and that maybe then, the survivors will get the answers they are seeking.

He added: 'I can tell you now that all my crew and my passengers will be interested in the publication of that inquiry.

'We have all been party to this knowledge for the last 30 years and no one has listened to us - now we are still waiting for answers.'

Mr Earthy says his family was broken up by what happened and, at times, had thought he was dead.

'Nobody could talk to home so my family were thinking I was dead. It's left its scars, even to this day.

'My family are still here because I came home, thank god, but we have scars and getting answers would go some way to healing those scars.'

The flight left Heathrow on August 1, 1990 and was scheduled to stop at Kuwait International airport for refuelling before it continued to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

Prior to the plane landing in Kuwait, Iraqi forces had launched a full-scale invasion in the early hours of August 2.

Within hours, the Iraqi army had taken control of the airport and, as a result, when the flight landed, its crew and passengers were taken hostage and detained at nearby hotels. The plane itself was destroyed.

The hostages were used as a human shield by Saddam Hussein who thought their detention meant coalition troops would not carry out offensive missions against the sites where they were held.

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The passengers and crew onboard BA's flight 149 were taken hostage once the plane landed at Kuwait International airport and the plane itself was subsequently destroyed (pictured)

Many of the detainees report witnessing atrocities that have left them with post-traumatic stress disorder which they continue to struggle with today.

There has long been speculation that the flight was allowed to continue to Kuwait, even though other flights were being diverted, because it was being used to carry a group of Special Forces into the country.

Anthony Paice, a former member of the British intelligence community working in Kuwait at the time previously told the BBC he is 'the military intelligence exploitation of British Airways flight 149 did take place'.

Author and journalist Stephen Davies penned Operation Trojan Horse in which he says he has spoken with members of the team and believes BA knew about the operation.

But, in her statement, Ms Truss said the files released today were consistent with a statement by ministers in 2007 that 'the Government at the time did not attempt in any way to exploit the flight by any means whatever'.