British Hostage Dies in Iraq, Apparently From Heart Attack

A 57-year-old British man held by Iraq at a strategic site has died in captivity, apparently from a heart attack, a British Embassy official said today.

A Foreign Office spokesman in London identified the dead man as Donald Major. His hometown was not immediately known. The embassy official said Major died Tuesday at the undisclosed strategic site where he was being held hostage.

“This confirms the underlying need for Iraq to respond to our appeals for the immediate release of all hostages,” said the Foreign Office spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

An unidentified colleague released by Iraq informed the embassy of the death and said the man appeared to die of a heart attack, said the embassy official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official said the man was the first British hostage known to have died in captivity. Three other Britons died of natural causes while in hiding in Kuwait and two were killed in a car accident in October while trying to drive from Kuwait to the Iraq port of Basra.