Miss World contestants take refuge in London

Eighty weary Miss World contestants found refuge in the bland surroundings of a London airport hotel yesterday after organisers abandoned plans to stage the event in Nigeria. The Red Cross said the death toll from the violence sparked by the contest had increased to 215 from previous estimates of 120.

The beauty queens, who have spent the past few days under armed guard at the Nicon Hilton in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, arrived at Gatwick airport on a Cameroon Airlines flight at 10.30am before being ferried by bus to the Heathrow Sheraton.

Stella Din, a Miss World spokeswoman, said the decision to move the pageant from Abuja to London, where it is now scheduled to take place on 7 December, had been taken "for the sake of the Nigerian nation. Even though we do not believe that the violence is connected to us, we didn't want any more bloodshed."

The organisers, who are led by Julia Morley, the widow of the Miss World founder, Eric Morley, decided to move the contest to London late on Friday after months of controversy and unrest caused by the original plan to hold it in Abuja on 7 December.

Four beauty queens dropped out of the Miss World pageant after a Nigerian woman, Amina Lawal, was sentenced to death under Islamic law for having a child outside marriage. Human rights activists called for a boycott of the entire event.

Meanwhile, militant Muslim groups in Nigeria, the home of last year's winner, Agbani Darego, condemned the contest as "a parade of nudity".

Hostility to the event increased on 16 November when the Lagos-based ThisDay newspaper published an article suggesting that the Prophet Mohamed would have approved of the pageant and would have chosen a wife from among the contestants.

Rioting broke out in the northern city of Kaduna on 20 November after Muslims set fire to the newspaper's office. Christians and Muslims armed with machetes, daggers and sticks fought each other in the streets, setting fire to cars and buildings. The violence later spread to the capital, leaving 215 dead.

Emmanuel Ijewere, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross, said bodies littered the streets and an estimated 1,200 people had been injured and 12,000 left homeless by the clashes. The situation was "calmer" yesterday, he said.

The Miss World participants arriving in England spoke of their relief at the organisers' decision to fly them out of the conflict zone. Miss England, Daniella Luan, 22, from Oxford, said she had been terrified by the fighting in Nigeria.

"I am happy to be home and looking forward to seeing my family. I think all our spirits have been lifted and we will have a good time in London," she said.

Miss Wales, Michelle Bush, 22, from Cardiff, said the decision to leave Nigeria had been difficult. She added: "People in the hotel like the security guards were crying and saying they didn't want us to go." Her father, Haydn Bush, said he had struggled to "know exactly where Michelle was all the time. We were in contact with the Foreign Office who were trying to keep us in touch but there was deep concern at that stage at what was happening."

Cormac Duffy, the father of Miss Ireland, Lynda Duffy, 22, said from his home in Glencorrid, Co Mayo: "It has been a very difficult few days having to watch events unfold and feeling there was nothing really we could do."

The organisers' decision to continue with the contest has been criticised by some of the contestants.

Miss Denmark, Masja Juel, who led a boycott of the pageant over the fate of Ms Lawal,has said she will not participate even in London. "It should be a happy event but personally I feel that all happiness about it is gone," she said.

Other participants, including Miss Canada, Lynsey Bennett, and Miss Korea, Yu-Kyung Chang, left Nigeria after the fighting broke out last week.

The relocated pageant is also likely to be opposed in this country. The Labour MP and former actress Glenda Jackson said of the decision to bring the contest to London: "It seems to me to be pretty disgusting that it's still going ahead."