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The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
Flight 149: Hostage of War review – a tale so staggering you couldn't write it
If it were a work of fiction, the story of Flight 149 would probably be deemed too horrifying – or too unbelievable – for television. Indeed, as a documentary interspersed with dramatic reconstructions, at points it is almost unbearable to watch. But it is a crucial piece of work: a one-off film that goes deep into a bizarre and increasingly hideous ordeal to ask how and why it happened. On 2 August 1990, a British Airways plane carrying nearly 400 passengers and crew from London to Kuala Lumpur touched down for a scheduled stopover in Kuwait. Those on board knew nothing of the unfolding Iraqi invasion of the country and the brutality Saddam Hussein was inflicting on his neighbours (this would, of course, soon lead to the Gulf war). British Airways maintains that it, too, was unaware of what was taking place, while the British government said it didn't know what was happening until after the plane had landed. Later, it would emerge that it had, in fact, received information before the plane had reached the terminal, but that it wasn't shared with the airline. Staggeringly, many of those on board would spend the next four months in the country, human shields in an unfurling international conflict, with no clear route home. Charlie Kristiansson, a former BA steward, recalls the place looking 'like the gates of hell had opened', as bombs began to explode around them. Initially, the passengers were put up in a plush hotel – a cocoon of sorts, he says. But as time went on, they were dispatched to various squalid locations, including a bungalow where the walls were smothered in excrement. The goal of Jenny Ash's documentary – much like the multi-Bafta-winning Mr Bates Vs the Post Office – is as much to entertain as to shine a light on what may be a colossal miscarriage of justice. Many of the interviewees here don't simply address a faceless producer behind a camera – they sit face to face with lawyers from the human rights firm McCue Jury & Partners. Last year, these testimonies were used to construct a class-action lawsuit against BA and the government. The government could have diverted Flight 149, but – for reasons that remain unclear – didn't. Stephen Davis, an investigative journalist who reported on the story for the Independent on Sunday at the time, has helped to illuminate what else may have been going on. Namely, allegations that the flight was used to aid a British intelligence operation. There are interviews here with Margaret Thatcher's former foreign affairs private secretary Charles Powell and the former US diplomat Barbara Bodine. These are bolstered by archive material that transports viewers back to the chaos unfolding on news bulletins and even Teletext. But the real heft comes from the survivors' stories, which sit side by side with reconstructions that feel hazy and incredibly unnerving and which mirror the subjects' dissociation. Jennifer Chappell, then 12, recalls seeing the lyrics of the Guns N' Roses song Paradise City on the walls of the military compound where she and her family were held. The moment is recreated by a young actor (Orla Taylor), who lies on a bed in the foetal position singing along to Axl Rose ('Oh, won't you please take me home?'). Elsewhere, Kristiansson flinches as he relives the savage sexual assault he was subjected to by an Iraqi soldier, as we are drawn, flashback-like, into the kind of stark tower block where it happened. Barry Manners, separated from his partner, Anthony Yong, in excruciating circumstances, recalls the places he would go in his brain to escape the horror of being locked in a dark room at the site of a dam, not knowing whether it was night or day. Viewers see the couple as they would have been in another life, listening to jazz on a beach in Thailand. Yong died not long after returning to the UK, his already poor health exacerbated by the nightmare of it all. Unsurprisingly, the passengers of Flight 149 think about what happened every day. Chappell has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder and has attempted to kill herself. The nearest we get to a happy ending is when Deborah Saloom, an American passenger, recounts her reunion with her husband, known as B George, whom she feared she would never see again (women and children were let out of the country before the men). Stress is engraved into the faces of practically every person we see on screen. Then head of security at Kuwait airport, Mohammad Al-Dossari, says the BA passengers were 'used like chess pieces'. Now, what they desperately want to know is what the people moving those pieces were thinking. Or, as Manners puts it: 'Why the fuck was I in this situation in the first place?' Even if we don't get all the answers, this is a truly excellent place to start. Flight 149: Hostage of War aired on Sky Documentaries and is available on Now In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at
Glasgow Times
2 days ago
- Glasgow Times
Scot held hostage by Saddam Hussein hopes for justice
Charlie Kristiansson, an air steward from Uddingston, Lanarkshire, was among 385 passengers and crew on BA Flight 149 when it landed in Kuwait to refuel on August 2, 1990—despite British authorities having already been informed that Iraqi forces had launched an invasion. The terrified hostages, including 11 children, were rounded up and used by Saddam's regime as 'human shields' at military sites. Many were starved, beaten, and sexually assaulted by their captors, reports the Daily Record. READ MORE: Thug knocked out three of teen's teeth with one punch Kristiansson and others are now part of a class legal action accusing the UK Government and British Airways of knowingly endangering them. The lawsuit alleges that Flight 149 was being used to covertly deliver a British intelligence team into the region under the cover of a civilian flight. Charlie hopes the new Sky documentary Flight 149: Hostage of War will increase pressure on authorities to come clean after what he calls a 35-year-long 'cover-up.' He said to the Daily Record: "The documentary is just another step in our harrowing journey. That flight was a Trojan horse. I want the Government and BA dragged into the courts and forced to tell the truth. 'The suffering was unbearable, and it was all avoidable. We were betrayed by the Government and I will never forgive them. I am furious.' Charlie was 28 at the time, working aboard the London-to-Malaysia flight, tending to passengers as the plane prepared to depart after its stopover, when Iraqi jets began bombing Kuwait International Airport. Explosions shredded the runway, and the crew rushed to evacuate passengers onto buses driven by fleeing Kuwaiti ground staff. The Iraqi military soon rounded up the foreigners and took them to Kuwait City's Regency Palace Hotel, claiming they were to be 'guests of Iraq.' On the way, Charlie saw the devastation of war—bodies abandoned among the rubble and twisted wreckage. READ MORE: Woman jailed in UK's first monkey torture case Initially, the hostages believed the British Government and BA would intervene. Charlie recalled: 'They offered us no help at all. 'We soon realised we were on our own.' He and a group of other male crew members and stewardesses were taken to a derelict bungalow at Shuwaikh Port, which was covered in excrement and infested with flies. They were terrorised by soldiers who warned them they'd be shot if they tried to escape. Charlie, who is 6ft 5in, saw his weight fall to just 6.5 stones. In November, Charlie was taken from the group and moved to a missile base near Baghdad, where he was held alongside six Scottish air force pilots who were regularly tortured. There, a kind Iraqi doctor convinced the guards to let Charlie go to a hospital, where he was finally able to phone his mother back in Scotland. He said: 'It was like she was in the world of the living and I was trapped in hell with the dead. 'I felt I would never see her again.' After five months in captivity, the hostages were released in December 1990. Charlie left British Airways after 13 years, disillusioned by what he describes as mounting evidence of the authorities' disregard for the lives on board Flight 149. He now lives in Luxembourg, teaching English. Despite the trauma, he continues to campaign for the truth. It was revealed in 2021 that the Foreign Office had been warned of Saddam's invasion more than an hour before Flight 149 landed at 4.13am Kuwaiti time. However, the Government denied that BA had been alerted, or that any intelligence team was aboard. READ MORE: Glasgow teacher struck off after pupils discover her explicit OnlyFans account In the documentary, Tony Paice, then-head of MI6 in Kuwait, claims he directly warned a senior British Airways official not to let the flight land. Multiple passengers also recall seeing a mysterious group of 10 men board the flight—believed to be covert operatives—though their presence has never been officially acknowledged. British Airways continues to state it received no warning. Flight 149: Hostage of War airs on Sky Documentaries from Wednesday, June 11.
Daily Record
2 days ago
- Daily Record
Scot held captive by Saddam Hussein hopes new documentary will help fight for justice
Air steward Charlie Kristiansson was one of 385 passengers and crew taken hostage when BA Flight 149 was sent into a war zone. A Scot held captive by Saddam Hussein after a BA flight was sent into a war zone hopes a new documentary will help in his long fight for justice. Air steward Charlie Kristiansson was one of 385 passengers and crew taken hostage when BA Flight 149 was allowed to make a refuelling stop in Kuwait – despite British authorities knowing the Iraqi invasion was under way. The terrified hostages, including 11 children, were deployed by Saddam as 'human shields' at military sites and were subjected to starvation, beatings and sexual assault by their Iraqi captors. A class legal action by the hostages accuses the UK Government and British Airways of 'deliberately endangering them', alleging the flight was being used to deliver a covert British intelligence-gathering team. Charlie, of Uddingston, Lanarkshire, said he hopes Sky documentary Flight 149: Hostage of War will pile pressure on authorities to tell the truth after a 35-year-long 'cover-up'. He said: 'The documentary is just another step in our harrowing journey. That flight was a Trojan horse. I want the Government and BA dragged into the courts and forced to tell the truth. 'The suffering was unbearable and it was all avoidable. We were betrayed by the Government and I will never forgive them. I am furious.' Charlie said his 132 days in captivity left him so broken that at times he prayed for death to free him. He was raped and beaten, and became so ill and emaciated he feared he would eventually 'just fade away'. The 28-year-old was on the London to Malaysia flight tending passengers and preparing the plane on the ground when Iraqi jets began bombing Kuwait International Airport on August 2, 1990. Explosions shredded the runway and there was a stampede as crew shepherded passengers off the plane and on to buses, driven by evacuating Kuwaiti ground staff. The Iraqi military rounded up foreigners and they were taken to the Kuwaiti City's Regency Palace Hotel to be 'guests of Iraq'. As they were being bussed to the Regency, Charlie witnessed the destruction of Kuwait laid bare, the bodies of the murdered were abandoned amid the bombed out cars and buildings. One passenger saw a pregnant Kuwaiti woman being bayoneted. Despite the horrors they witnessed, the passengers and crew believed the British Government and BA would save them. But Charlie said: 'They offered us no help at all. We soon realised we were on our own.' Charlie, seven other men and four BA stewardesses were taken to Shuwaikh Port in Kuwait City, where they were thrown into an abandoned bungalow which was covered in excrement and infested with flies. At the bungalow, the hostages were terrorised by Iraqi soldiers and told they'd be shot if they tried to escape. Charlie, who was 6ft 5in, saw his weight plummet to only 6.5 stones. At one point, a guard agreed to source food but dropped off the leg of a giraffe which had been shot at the zoo. Charlie refused to eat it but others did. When he got severe toothache, an Iraqi officer offered to take him to a dentist but he drove him to an abandoned tower and raped him at gunpoint. In the November, he was wrenched from the group and taken to Baghdad, and billeted in a missile base alongside six captured Scottish airforce pilots who were regularly tortured. But at the base, Charlie was visited by a kind Iraqi doctor who persuaded the guards to let him be taken to hospital. There, he allowed Charlie to call his mum back home in Scotland. He said: 'It was like she was in the world of the living and I was trapped in hell with the dead. I felt I would never see her again.' Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. After five months in captivity, the hostages were freed in the December. Charlie left BA after 13 years as more information emerged about the disregard authorities had shown to Flight 149. He now lives in Luxembourg, where he teaches English. It was 4.13am, Kuwaiti time when BA Flight 149 had touched down on August 2. Yet more than an hour earlier, then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher had been told Saddam had invaded. It was only in November 2021 the Foreign Office finally admitted the Government had been warned with plenty of time to divert the flight. It denied a covert intelligence team was on board or that BA was warned not to land. In the documentary, Tony Paice, head of MI6 in Kuwait, alleged he had warned a senior staff member from BA. Numerous passengers said they saw a mysterious group of 10 men, believed to be the covert operatives, get on but their existence continues to be denied. British Airways said government records in 2021 confirmed the airline was not warned. Flight 149: Hostage of War is on Sky Documentaries from Wednesday, June 11.
