A U.S.-chartered Iraqi Airways jetliner ferrying seven Americans and other former hostages to freedom arrived in Frankfurt late Tuesday from Baghdad. On board the Boeing 707, along with the Americans, were two Canadians, two Britons, an Irishman, an Italian, and an Australian, said Craig Springer, U.S. Consulate spokesman in Frankfurt. Before departure, diplomats said six Britons were on board and did not mention an Australian or Italian. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy. U.S. officials had originally planned to charter a Boeing 747 jumbo jet to Frankfurt and it was to have two State Department doctors aboard to deal with people coming out of hiding in Kuwait who have experienced a lot of stress. Just one of the doctors was on the flight, said Springer. Springer said the former hostages would stay in a hotel outside Frankfurt overnight and fly to their final destinations the following day on regular commercial flights. The Boeing 707 was one of three chartered jetliners delivering former hostages out of Iraq on Tuesday. Two others left for Bangkok and London. Diplomats said 14 Americans were on the charter flights from Baghdad. Seven were among the 310 people, most of them Britons, on the flight that left for London. Seven more were on the flight to Frankfurt. A Japanese-chartered Iraqi Airways 707 left Baghdad for Bangkok with 159 people aboard, including 14 Japanese diplomats from Kuwait and the rest mostly former Japanese hostages. The White House said Tuesday that a scheduled Thursday evacuation flight of Americans is ``likely to be the last'' and will probably also carry home the remaining staff of the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein last week announced the blanket release of all Westerners, and the first specially chartered freedom flights began Sunday. Earlier Tuesday, diplomats said about 600 U.S. citizens remain in Iraq and Kuwait. They also said about 400 were expected to remain in Iraq, mostly people with dual U.S.-Iraqi citizenship or American spouses of Iraqi citizens.
