British sailors face debrief at 'secure location' on return home
London - The 15 British naval personnel freed by Iran will be taken to a "secure location" to be debriefed on their two weeks in captivity when they land on home soil Wednesday, officials said.
"The plane will be landing and then they will be whisked into a helicopter and taken to a secure location. I don't know where," a spokesman for the British Airports Authority (BAA) told AFP.
A defence ministry spokesman said there would be no press conference at Heathrow airport, west of London, where their British Airways flight carrying the group is due to touch down at terminal four at 12:05 pm (1105 GMT).
The MoD spokesman said he did not know if the eight sailors and seven marines group would be reunited with the families at the airport or at a later stage.
They will be taken from there to Royal Marines Base Chivenor, Devon, south-west England, to be debriefed.
A spokesman for the Devonport Naval Base in nearby Plymouth -- the home base of HMS Cornwall, the ship which the crew were serving on when they were captured -- said the debrief would last "hours, not days".
He could not say what would happen to them after that, adding it would depend on their "individual needs".
The group is currently flying home from Tehran, 14 days after they were seized by Iran, which accused them of violating the country's territorial waters.
They were released following a surprise announcement by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a press conference Wednesday that they would be given their liberty "as a gift to the British people".
kah/gh Iran-Britain-military-airport AFP 050828 GMT APR 07
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