Homecoming: Sailors arrive back in Britain

Last Modified: 05 Apr 2007
By: Channel 4 News

The 15 British sailors and marines freed from captivity in Iran have arrived back in the UK at Heathrow airport from where they will be transported to Devon.

After 13 days in captivity, the group of naval personnel left Tehran on a British Airways flight at about 8.30am local time (6am BST).

They touched down at London's Heathrow airport, posed for a photograph and then transfered immediately to Naval helicopters which will take them to Royal Marines Base Chivenor, near Barnstaple, north Devon.

The former captives will have to wait until they reach the Devon base before they are allowed to see their families.

Relatives of those held were driving from all parts of the country to welcome their loved ones home.

The 15 service personnel, who had disembarked from HMS Cornwall in the Gulf when they were detained, will undergo medical checks and receive a full debriefing on arrival.

But a spokesman for Devonport Naval Base in Plymouth, the home base of the ship, said the debrief would last for "hours, not days".

"The timescale might be based on what their needs are," he said.

"It's about their individual needs, really - the priority is how they feel."

Before leaving Tehran, the sailors and marines were shown on Iranian television drinking tea and receiving gifts.

They looked relaxed and smiled as they went through bags of presents, pulling out what looked like black lacquer boxes.

They posed for a group shot and some waved at the cameras.

They were released yesterday after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad theatrically announced he was pardoning them as "a gift to the British people".

'It would be utterly naive to believe that our personnel would have been released unless both elements of the strategy had been present'
Tony Blair

Prime minister's reaction

Meanwhile prime minister Tony Blair said the British Government had pursued a "dual-track strategy" over the past two weeks.

"Being open to bilateral dialogue with the Iranian regime, but at the same time mobilising international support and pressure, whether in the United Nations and Europe, with the United States of America, or with our allies out in the region.

"In my view it would be utterly naive to believe that our personnel would have been released unless both elements of the strategy had been present."