The five British yachtsmen taken captive by Iran arrived safely in Dubai last night after being freed from the island where they were held.
They had been blindfolded by the soldiers who boarded their vessel and eventually locked in a mess room, they said. They had been well treated.
Oliver Smith, Oliver Young, Sam Usher, Luke Porter and David Bloomer were detained by the Iranian authorities after their vessel Kingdom of Bahrain drifted into Iranian waters as they sailed from Bahrain to Dubai.
The men were told yesterday morning that they could leave. Mr Smith said: There was a knock on the door. We were thinking they were a little late bringing breakfast. They opened the door and said, Youre free to go.
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After being towed into international waters, Kingdom of Bahrain was escorted to Dubai by a yacht from a local sailing club. The men were transferred to a speedboat flying the flags of the United Arab Emirates, which docked at the International Marine Club in Dubai. The crew stepped ashore in new white polo shirts to the backdrop of the floodlit Atlantis hotel, to be met by Guy Warrington, the British Consul-General in Dubai.
David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said: I welcome the fact that this has been dealt with in a professional and straightforward way by the Iranian authorities.
Last night, the men acknowledged that the yacht, which had a damaged propeller, had strayed into Iranian waters. We were in their waters but it wasnt marked on the charts that we had, Mr Bloomer, the oldest member of the crew, admitted. We were trying to avoid the oilrigs in the area.
The yacht was approached by two fast boats manned by the Revolutionary Guard, they said. Mr Smith, the captain, said the Iranians boarded twice. The Britons were waved on after a document check but the soldiers returned and the vessel was diverted to the Iranian island of Sirri.
After deliberating, they got back on board and asked us to turn around and head back towards the island with two of their guys on board. They sat our guys at the back and blindfolded them but left me unblindfolded \, Mr Smith said.
After further checks they were told they could leave, only for the yacht to be turned around again. This time they were put in a padlocked room.
We were taken to the base blindfolded, and taken into a room where they took the blindfolds off. It was reasonable, one of their mess rooms, he said. It was pretty tense at first. There were plenty of moments when we were very concerned about what was going to happen.
Mr Smith said the atmosphere between the yachtsmen and their captors lightened after a couple of days and they were given a chessboard and darts. In their final days their door was unlocked for evening meals.
Mr Bloomer, a Bahrain-based radio presenter who is in his sixties, disembarked in Dubai wearing a chequered scarf of the kind often favoured by Irans hardline leaders. Asked where it had come from, he joked: I got it from a little island we stopped off at. Then he admitted that it was a farewell present from his captors.
As he celebrated his release, Mr Bloomer could think only of bangers and beer. We were fed very well but there was no bacon or pork, of course, or alcohol, he said.
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MIR: The Saudi-Iranian Neo Cold Warby linktv53,506 views
They should have shot these idiots. Israel style.
thestraybullet 2 years ago
You're asking for trouble by wondering into other country's territory! This happens on a daily basis between bahrain and qatar but no one speaks of them cause the poor sailors are not british!
cupcakeofbahrain 2 years ago
mullahs want trouble, extreme religion causes problems thr out history
nac2324 2 years ago