Only 37 hostages want to return to Afghanistan

LONDON, FEBRUARY 12: Only 37 of the 142 hostages from the hijacked Afghan jet have said they want to go home, British home office said today. Some hostages have not yet decided whether to return home, a home office spokesman said here, adding that the Cambodian plane chartered to take them back will not leave today.

Passengers are due to be taken from the Hilton Hotel at Stansted airport to a temporary centre in a fire service college in Gloucestershire today, the spokesman said.

The 22 hijackers are being held separately. The Ariana Airlines Boeing 727 was hijacked on a domestic flight from Kabul to Mazar-i-Sharif on February 6. The plane made brief stopovers at Aktyubinsk Tashkent and Moscow before arriving at Stansted airport. The ordeal of the passengers on board ended on Thursday after the hijackers gave themselves in.