Terrier Beats Ruff Odds in Kuwait Escape

A dog named after a fictional British flying ace, Biggles, narrowly escaped death in the Persian Gulf crisis when he was trapped in a stranded airliner, rescued by flight attendants and smuggled to safety in Jordan.

The West Highland terrier was recovering at London’s Heathrow Airport today after flying in from Amman on Thursday.

“He must be one of the luckiest dogs alive. He seems like a natural survivor,” a British Airways spokesman said.

Biggles was on his way to Malaysia to join his British owner when a jumbo jet was stranded in Kuwait by the Iraqi invasion.

The passengers and crew were ordered off the plane, but Biggles was left inside the cargo hold in a cage.

The crew found him three days later, and two flight attendants took him to their hotel, naming him Biggles after the flying ace in a series of British boys’ books.

But Biggles’ adventures were not over. The crew took the dog with them overland to Baghdad and eventually smuggled him to Jordan with a group of refugees.