Hostages from the Afghan plane hijack enjoying their first night of freedom have been warned by the home secretary that their claims for asylum will face strict scrutiny.

Some 60 hostages, plus 14 of their dependents, have lodged asylum claims after the three-day siege at Stansted airport came to an end.

But Jack Straw has told MPs he is "utterly determined" to send out a clear message that hijacking a plane was not the way to gain entry into the UK.

His emphatic address to the House of Commons came as the hostages, described by police as being in "remarkably good health", were being transferred to the airport's four-star Hilton Hotel.

Translators have been drafted in to aid communications while food and medical assistance have been put at their disposal.

Bags of toys, clothing and clean nappies have also been dropped off at their hotel rooms, which police are believed to have secured at a discount rate.

The passengers began their ordeal on Sunday during an internal flight in Afghanistan. The plane was subsequently flown across Central Asia and Russia before landing at Stansted early on Monday.

Twenty-one of the passengers who are suspected of being involved in the hijacking, which ended at around 0600 GMT on Thursday, have been arrested.

'Relatives at risk'

Mr Straw's comments followed human rights campaigners' demands that asylum claims should not be dismissed too quickly.

The Refugee Council's chief executive Nick Hardwick said those involved in the hijack should face serious charges, but their relatives were at risk if they returned to Afghanistan - whose Taleban government has been widely condemned for its record on human rights.

He said: "The truth is this is a desperate act by desperate men, desperate to get their families to safety.

"It doesn't excuse it at all, but it doesn't mean we can return people to a very dangerous situation without very careful thought."

Mr Straw has pledged to meet Britain's obligations under international treaties to consider fairly every application for asylum filed in the UK.

But he said he would personally oversee every claim filed and wanted to see as many people from the plane as possible removed from the country.

Dramatic escape

Meanwhile, a Kampuchean Airlines-chartered Tristar jet has been scheduled to take back any hostages who genuinely want to return to Afghanistan.

Although asylum claims have been lodged, police say the motive behind the hijack still remains unclear.

Police say none of the hijackers had mentioned the political situation in Afghanistan until the last hour of negotiations, which had nearly collapsed following the dramatic escape of four of the crew from the cockpit on the second night.

Representatives of the Taleban regime, not officially recogised by the British government, have said that innocent passengers would have nothing to fear in returning to their homeland, even if they had applied for asylum.