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The Nation 3-10-99 No. 2
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<font size=4>Hostages recount embassy ordeal <br>
</font><font size=3>TO the hostages detTo the hostage detained by the
''Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors'', it was 25 hours of drastically
swinging feelings -- from being terrified, to relieved, terrified to
sympathetic and very afraid again. <br>
The atmosphere was ''great'' in the morning when the gunmen were told
their demand for a helicopter had been met, according to a hostage, Pol
Netneramit, 50. <br>
''People in the room were bidding farewell. The students even made coffee
for us. They appeared glad police gave in to their demand for a
helicopter,'' he said. <br>
Tension crept back and mounted rapidly when a helicopter sent by the
government kept hovering above the embassy. The students' faces changed.
One expressed anger by firing shots into the ceiling. And finally the
captors started giving death threats to the hostages. <br>
''They selected people who they said would be shot first. They said they
would start with the Burmese diplomats and staff,'' Pol said. <br>
Female captives began to cry. Then police resumed contact, informing the
students that the helicopter could not land at the compound. The gunmen
then huddled a painfully long time over the police proposal that they
take vans to somewhere else where helicopters could land. <br>
''They finally came to us and asked for volunteers to ride in the vans
with them. Some hostages agreed to accompany them. Then the vans came,
and I don't know what happened next,'' Pol said. <br>
He was in the visa section on Friday when five students dressed in
military uniforms came storming in. Many women screamed. <br>
Pol knew Burmese because he had earned a living ''giving assistance'' to
visa applicants. He heard the raiders shout: ''Shut up or you die.''
<br>
''The intruders looked very scary. They wielded their rifles everywhere.
A policeman based at the embassy was hit with a rifle butt. He went down
but they later let him go,'' Pol said. <br>
''Women kept screaming. Again they threatened to shoot. One woman refused
to stop and they pointed a gun at her head. Sometimes they fired shots
into the air. They all were armed with eerie-looking rifles. They told us
they had grenades in their bag. That scared the hell out of us.'' <br>
When the hostages settled down, the attackers began to talk, telling them
they ''have no choice'' because no one was paying attention to the plight
of Burmese people anymore. After a while, the students calmed down,
telling the captives they would not be harmed if they cooperated. <br>
In the evening the students became testy again. There were voices, in
Burmese, from a loudspeaker outside the embassy, and the students fired
their rifles again. Telephones kept ringing but the students did not pick
them up. <br>
At around 7 pm a student took Pol at gunpoint to the front wall where the
rebel picked up an M-16 rifle which had been somehow left there. <br>
The hostages were gathered at the chancellery building, on the second
floor. The students were with their hostages at night and looked very
tense. <br>
At around 2 am, the students gave the hostages some food given to them by
police. The gunmen did not eat, saying they were afraid of being drugged.
Again the captors talked and their captives listened. <br>
''They were nice at this moment. Nobody felt scared. They even laid down
along side us,'' Pol said. <br>
Another hostage, Prasert Luangaramwet, gave a similar account concerning
developments yesterday morning. <br>
''They were so nice and we bade them farewell. But when the helicopter
could not land, the students started selecting hostages to shoot. Fear
returned to the hostages. Even the foreigners who had not appeared very
scared turned pale. Women began to cry,'' he said. <br>
Prasert said that throughout the ordeal no hostage was hurt and except
for the crunch moments the Burmese students were not aggressive. <br>
The Nation</font>
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