After leaving the aircraft, all the passengers and crew were captured on the ground by Iraqi forces who had overrun Kuwait City. The majority of the detained passengers were initially transferred to the airport hotel within the boundaries of the airport until the crew of BA 149 negotiated for everyone to be moved to the Regency Hotel where British Airways crew and staff flying into Kuwait were routinely based. The crew of BA 149 and some of the passengers unsuccessfully tried asking the British Embassy to be evacuated from the country. Later on as international opposition to the Iraqi occupation grew, the passengers were ordered from the Regency Hotel, separated into groups and confined to various hotels in Kuwait, also designated by the Iraqis for other foreigners to report to. The Iraqis claimed the passengers to be "honoured guests", and were moved in the following week under armed escort by a mix of policemen and soldiers from Iraq, to locations in Kuwait and Iraq. The British transferees were accommodated primarily on the upper floors of the Melia Mansour Hotel in Baghdad; hostages from other nationalities were housed in different hotels. During the early stages of the crisis, Brunyate stayed with the passengers and crew to reassure them but later escaped with help from members of the Kuwaiti resistance. Brunyate later explained that his father, who had worked in Iraq, had personally run afoul of Saddam Hussein and he feared reprisals if his surname was recognised by the Iraqi authorities.