Some of the 14 crew members are believed to be among those seeking asylum, although one flight engineer has said he wants to join the flight back to Afghanistan. So far 74 of those on the plane have formally applied for asylum to remain in Britain. A further 30 are expected to join them.
Last night, as Essex police continued to question the 22 people arrested for being directly involved in the hijack, a Kampuchea airlines Trident jet, chartered by the International Organisation for Migration on behalf of the foreign office, was on standby at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, ready to fly to Kandahar those who wish to return home.
The preparations were being made yesterday against a background of Tory and tabloid newspaper hostility towards granting any asylum concession to the remaining hostages. Amnesty International last night wrote to Jack Straw urging him to give proper consideration to the claims for asylum and telling him that Afghanistan's appalling human rights record was a chilling reminder of why Britain's asylum laws existed in the first place. The home secretary is likely to come under more pressure this weekend.
The 142 hostages are to be bussed from the Hilton hotel at Stansted airport to the fire service college at Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire, at today. A home office fast-track asylum unit has been set up there to process their claims for refugee status.
A translator helping police with the interviewing process at Harlow police station said the majority of the hostages he had spoken to had indicated they wanted to stay in Britain: "Of the 11 people I spoke to only one, and he was a flight engineer anyway, did not say he wanted to stay."
The details emerged during a second day of questioning by police and immigration officials at the Hilton. A police spokesman said they expected charges under the prevention of terrorism act and international hijack law to be brought against the suspects on Monday. It is expected they will then be moved to Belmarsh prison, south London, to await trial. "We are looking to charge them with as many offences as possible," he said.
Of the 142 hostages brought to the Hilton, where they have been housed in 91 rooms without telephones, 122 were interviewed on Thursday and the final 20 yesterday. During the day an ambulance arrived and took a one-year-old girl suffering from abdominal pains to hospital.
After police interviews, each hostage was spoken to for five minutes by immigration officials, during which they had the chance to express their desire to seek asylum.
