S.A.S. just fantastic —rescued hostage

Press, 8 May 1980, Page 8

S.A.S. just fantastic —rescued hostage

NZPA London A 8.8. C. man rescued unharmed from the burning Iranian Embassy in London 1 this week after six days in captivity, said yesterday that all the hostages were “overwhelmed” by the action of the Special Air Service Regiment soldiers who freed them. He said the hostages “never believed such an operation could be carried out.” Mr Sim Harris, a 8.8. C. sound recordist, spoke of his relief when he realised the S.A.S. men were taking over. “I felt overjoyed. I had no fear,” he said in a 8.8. C. TV interview. He said: “These men are just fantastic. I say to them thank you for my life because God knows what would have happened in that embassy.” Mr Harris said he noticed a great change in the police attitude on the embassy telephone link just before the attack. “Normally the police were very slow and deliberate in their conversations. “The gunmen came to us and said, ‘We’ve given them one body, we’re going to give them another one in 15 minutes unless they meet our demands’.” He said that 15 minutes later the police rang again and the. gunmen’s leader spoke to them and talked about a plane and a bus. He said-the terrorist leaders took him and Constable Trevor Lock down to the: first floor to get assurances from the police that they would not invade the embassy. . “I said, ‘They are not going to invade the embassy. Don’t worry, don’t worry.’ I said, ‘They won’t do it in I broad daylight anyway’.” Shortly after, said Mr - Harris, “there was a crash-1 ing of glass, followed by total darkness and two ' cracker explosions. That was ' it.”

il Mr Harris said the terrorlists had shut all the windows and the shutters and i drawn all the curtains in i every room. “We never saw ; daylight for the whole ■ siege.” He went on: “I saw a : chink of light and I went for 1 it. It was a shutter. 1 opened it and looked out. There was a man dressed like a frog- : man — complete black mask, black uniform, black boots. “He said, ‘get down, get down, get down.’ I lay down flat, he kicked the window in and he threw two crackers in. He was followed by two men and 1 was completely overjoyed. “I felt no fear then. I had had fear for six days. “I said, ‘Get in there lads and get them’. “I knew who they were immediately they went in and I lay there for a while. The first thing I realised was that I still had my glasses on and they were still intact after two explosions, which I thought was quite remarkable. “I lay there then I noticed the room was beginning to burn. There was terrible smoke and gas.- So I thought I could crawl out on the balcony.” He said he got out on to the slightly damaged balcony. Mr Harris went on: “I went to move, and from the ground I heard ‘That’s Harris, that’s Harris. Stay flat, stay flat, stay flat’.” . ‘I lay there because I was being instructed by a man with a gun behind a wall, and he gave me instruction in such a' manner that you just don’t argue.” Mr Harris said: “The heat became quite intense, behind 1 me, and burning debris was dropping on me from I above.” “I shouted down to him, I ‘l’m going to burn to death,: I’m going to’ burn to death’,” 1 “He said, ‘Stay flat, stay ,

- flat, Harris, stay flat’.” “The next thing on the 1 balcony to the right of me, i which is still the embassy r balcony, a commando ap- : peared and he said, ‘Hey, come here, come here’.” i “So I then jumped across r into a window which was an 1 office, over some desks, and ; a typewriter. “We were not shown out : of the building. I can only : describe it as being thrown out of the building. “Every hostage talked [ about it identically. , “The S.A.S. threw us out . of that building, they threw [ us from one man to the next and they threw us out. One man caught us, ‘Next one, next one,’ down the stairs. ‘Out the back, Out the back, out the back/ Flat on the 1 floor. Hands behind your backs’.” 1 Mr Harris went on: “I had ■ straps round my wrists. : They searched me, held me [ down, and told me not to [ say a word.” ! Asked about his thoughts towards the S.A.S., Mr Harris said: “God knows what would have happened [ in that embassy if . they ' hadn’t come in when they did.” “I know they can never be [ named, or recognised, but j every single hostage thanks them for what they did.” [ He paid tribute to Con- ] stable. Lock who, he said, . “presented an image of a typical British policeman ( throughout the siege.” He [ learned from Constable Lock [ early on that the constable . still had his gun, hidden 1 under his uniform. j He said Constable Lock ] kept on his full uniform and j tunic throughout the entire ; siege and “sweated it out in j stifling heat.” ; “He couldn’t take it off or i he would have revealed his 1 gun and holster,” said Mr 1 Harris. He said the police- 1 man even had to turn down 1 the offer of a bath from the < gunmen to keep his secret, j