Category: Terrorism, from Wikidata’s class “hostage taking”
British Airways Flight 149
Wikidata classes on our event-class list: hostage taking (all its classes: Wikidata item)
British Airways Flight 149 was a scheduled flight from Heathrow Airport to Subang International Airport via Kuwait International Airport and Madras International Airport, operated by British Airways using a Boeing 747-100.
Before the aircraft landed at Kuwait International Airport on 2 August 1990, Iraq launched a full-scale invasion of Kuwait during the early hours of that morning. Following the aircraft's arrival, the flight was never resumed due to the invasion. Within hours, the Iraqi Army advanced as far as Kuwait City and took control of the airport, where they captured the aircraft and its occupants. The majority of the passengers and crew were initially detained at several nearby hotels along with other foreigners under armed guard. The airliner was later destroyed on the ground; the identity of those responsible for its destruction remains unknown.
During their detention, passengers alleged that they were subjected to abuse and witnessed atrocities performed by Iraqi forces. To secure their release, former British Prime Minister Edward Heath travelled to Baghdad to lead negotiations, which included direct talks between Heath and Saddam Hussein. One passenger, a Kuwaiti citizen, was listed as having been killed by Iraqi troops while all remaining passengers were released from their captivity following the conclusion of the conflict. Many of the detainees developed post-traumatic stress disorder after being released.
Text retrieved 2026-09-26 from Wikipedia.
Cite this
The link is the Wikipedia revision of July 10, 2026 (revision 1363509706), whose lead is exactly the text shown here.
APA 7
British Airways Flight 149. (2026, July 10). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=British_Airways_Flight_149&oldid=1363509706
MLA 9
“British Airways Flight 149.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 July 2026, en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=British_Airways_Flight_149&oldid=1363509706.
Chicago (note)
Wikipedia, “British Airways Flight 149,” last modified July 10, 2026, 17:17 (UTC), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=British_Airways_Flight_149&oldid=1363509706.
Chicago (shortened note)
Wikipedia, “British Airways Flight 149.”
Chicago cites well-known reference works such as Wikipedia in notes only, not in the bibliography.
This event on Middle East, 1900–present: https://middleeast.events/event/british-airways-flight-149
If you use the map’s borders: CShapes 2.0 - historical country borders. Schvitz, G., et al. (2022). CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. https://icr.ethz.ch/data/cshapes/ (modified by middleeast.events); West Bank Areas A/B/C: UN OCHA / HDX "Oslo Agreement" Areas A/B/C (West Bank). Distributed under the legacy HumanitarianResponse.info terms: non-commercial use with credit to UN OCHA. https://data.humdata.org/dataset/state-of-palestine-other-0-0-0-0-0; some corrected border points: GeoNames - CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). https://www.geonames.org/
No map location: Wikipedia and Wikidata give no coordinates for this event, so it has no marker on the map.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by Wikipedia contributors, from the article British Airways Flight 149. Classes are Wikidata’s labels (CC0).