Iran releases four U.S. soldiers held since Sunday
Military: Civilian contractor boats entered Iranian waters
From Barbara Starr
CNN Washington Bureau
 |
Story Tools
|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain is reporting that four U.S. soldiers and four civilians aboard two small civilian contractor boats were recovered Monday in the northern Persian Gulf after several hours in Iranian hands.
All eight of the passengers were found alive, but the two boat captains are being held by Iran.
The boats had left Iraq's Mina Al-Bakr oil terminal facility Sunday and moved through the Shatt al Arab waterway, which divides Iraq and Iran. It was bound for the port of Faw to pick up Iraqi South Oil Co. workers and bring them back to the terminal.
U.S. military sources told CNN that the boats entered Iranian waters near the Shatt al Arab, and the crew and passengers were taken at gunpoint and blindfolded by Iranians.
The passengers and crew were taken upriver for 20 minutes, and then were taken off the boats and interrogated hourly throughout the night, the military sources said.
All except the two boat captains were escorted to their boats and allowed to return to Iraq.
Details on why the boats entered Iranian waters were not immediately available.
A statement on the U.S. Navy's Maritime Liaison Office Bahrain website said that along with the four American soldiers the boat carried an American civilian engineer, two Kuwaiti civilian operators and one other unidentified person.
After the boats were reported missing, the Maritime Liaison Office in Bahrain posted an advisory asking mariners to keep watch, and Navy and Coast Guard aircraft launched a search.
