But police security sources said it had raised fears in London that a British city might be attacked.

The two CIA officers, with a dozen armed guards, were then taken by truck and train to a prison in Mukden (Shenyang), the largest city in Manchuria, almost 300 miles away.

While the Senate hearing was unfolding in Washington, the coastguard and the MMS held their own hearing outside New Orleans to look at the developing theories as to what went wrong.