By Gasper Crasto / Kuwait
𝗔𝘂𝗴𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟮, 𝟭𝟵𝟵𝟬.
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 ‘Flight’ that landed at Kuwait airport just before the war began.
𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙇𝘼𝙎𝙏 𝙁𝙇𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏
I love watching conspiracy documentaries, and am still fascinated by this one which remains a ‘secret’ 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 – 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.
𝙀𝙑𝙀𝙍𝙔𝙊𝙉𝙀 𝘾𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙐𝙍𝙀𝘿 𝙀𝙓𝘾𝙀𝙋𝙏…
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.
𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝟵 𝗺𝗲𝗻?
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 Iraq’s invasion began – to offload the intelligence team.
Although it put the lives, of all passengers in danger, it was probably the intelligence of this ‘secret’ team to the coalition forces that helped liberate Kuwait within no time.
However, Britain has continued to deny sending the ‘𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗙𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗞𝗨𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧’ till date.
𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗢𝗖𝗨𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗬, it is more interesting than ‘AIRLIFT’ - Akshay Kumar’s blockbuster film on the invasion which was however banned from cinemas in Kuwait for undisclosed reasons.