More than 100 British soldiers returning from Afghanistan were blocked for six hours from deplaning over security concerns because they were wearing their uniforms, the Daily Mail reports.
A spokesman for Manchester Airport, however, said the delay was caused after the pilot decided to wait for the fog to lift in hopes of returning to the Brize Norton Royal Air Force Base, the original destination, the Mail reports.
U.K. officials called the incident "clumsy and insulting" as well as "outrageous and unacceptable," the Mail reports.
The ordeal began after fog caused the plane, which was carrying 128 frontline soldiers home for a week of rest, to be diverted to Manchester Airport, where the aircraft sat at the passenger terminal and later was moved to the freight terminal.
Once they exited the plane, the soldiers were made to wait 50 minutes in freezing temperatures until coaches could pick them up, the story says.
The service members, many of whom hours earlier had been in combat against the Taliban, reportedly went without food from 5 a.m. local time until well into the afternoon.
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