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Sailors celebrate freedom
05/04/2007 13:05 - (SA)
Tehran - The 15 British sailors flying back home on Thursday after two weeks in captivity in Iran celebrated their release with water, pistachio nuts - and ill-fitting new suits.
The former detainees were seen on Iranian state television on Wednesday shaking hands, laughing and embracing each other in relief after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's dramatic announcement they would be released.
But while the champagne corks popped at home in Britain, the 14 men and one women were given bottles of water to toast the end of their ordeal in the Islamic republic where alcohol is banned.
Faye Turney - the only woman in the group - waved to the camera and said "Teshakkor" - "thank you" in Persian in the footage shown on Wednesday.
"I feel just relieved, happy to go home, the treatment here has just been great but it will be nice to get back, get home and see my family," the married mother-of-one said.
Apologies and thanks
Asked if she had a message for the Iranian people, added: "Just thank you for letting us go, and apologise for our actions."
New footage was released on Thursday showing the eight sailors and seven marines opening colourful bags containing an array of traditional gifts before their departure for London.
The 14 men and one woman smiled and laughed as they sipped tea and waited to board their plane in the plush surroundings of the presidential lounge at Tehran's international airport.
The pictures aired on Iran's Arabic-language channel Al-Alam showed the sailors opening gifts ranging from traditional handicrafts to Iranian pistachio nuts.
Their luggage, packed into a combination of matching traditional Iranian woven bags and sports holdalls laid on by the authorities, was also seen.
British ambassador Geoffrey Adams was then seen ushering the 15 on to a bus to deliver them to the British Airways plane that later took off for London on the overcast morning.
The first footage of the released captives on Wednesday showed the men chatting with Ahmadinejad in sometimes ill-fitting grey and blue suits - without ties in line with the custom of the Islamic republic.
Turney wore a blue jacket and flowered headscarf.
"I went to Iran and all I got was this lousy suit," mocked the front-page headline on Britain's leading daily tabloid The Sun.
'No harm meant'
In Wednesday's footage, lieutenant Felix Carman spoke of how the group had been "treated with a great deal of respect and dignity. All our needs have been catered for".
"To Iranian people, I can understand why you were insulted by our apparent intrusion into your waters," he said.
"I'd like to say no harm was meant to Iranian people or its territories whatsoever... I hope that this experience will help to build the relationship between our countries."
Captain Chris Air also stressed that the group had been treated "very well" and shown "respect for all of our rights".
"They have taken care of us medically and physically and given us plenty of food and water and looked after all our comforts," he said.
"No-one has been harmed in any way, so I just want to make sure that some rumours that have been going around are totally untrue."
- AFP
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