By Gasper Crasto / Kuwait
๐๐๐ด๐๐๐ ๐ฎ, ๐ญ๐ต๐ต๐ฌ.
It was a devastating day that caught the peace-loving Kuwaitis & everyone by shock; many were killed in the aftermath, many suffered, and others including Goans were displaced or evacuated.
Lot of things happened on the first day of the invasion, yet, very few people know about one passenger โFlightโ that landed at Kuwait airport just before the war began.
๐๐๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐
I love watching conspiracy documentaries, and am still fascinated by this one which remains a โsecretโ till date?
On August 2, 1990, a British Airways Boeing-747 landed in Kuwait as Saddam Hussein invaded the country.
Flight #149 touched down at 4.15 am, for refueling and crew change which was done, and the flight was ready to fly off to its next destination โ Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia via Madras.
However, before the flight could take, Iraqi jets began to bomb the runway.
The plane was captured, and nearly 400 passengers and crew were taken hostage, some held for months as human shields.
๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐พ๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฟ ๐๐๐พ๐๐๐โฆ
Almost everyone from that unfortunate flight was captured except 9 men who had boarded the plane late at Heathrow airport. They were escorted from the plane as soon as it landed in Kuwait.
๐ช๐ต๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐ต ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป?
Apparently, they were part of a top-secret intelligence team purposely sent into Kuwait to provide intel on the war and liaise with Kuwaiti resistance.
Famous British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher apparently authorized the mission.
Flight 149 was allowed to land 4 hours after Iraqโs invasion began โ to offload the intelligence team.
Although it put the lives, of all passengers in danger, it was probably the intelligence of this โsecretโ team to the coalition forces that helped liberate Kuwait within no time.
However, Britain has continued to deny sending the โ๐๐๐ฆ๐ง ๐๐๐๐๐๐ง ๐ง๐ข ๐๐จ๐ช๐๐๐งโ till date.
๐ช๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ข๐๐จ๐ ๐๐ก๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฌ, it is more interesting than โAIRLIFTโ - Akshay Kumarโs blockbuster film on the invasion which was however banned from cinemas in Kuwait for undisclosed reasons.