 One of Brandt's last public appearances was in flying to Baghdad, Iraq, to free Western hostages held by Saddam Hussein, following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990.Brandt secured the release of a large number of them, and on 9 November 1990, his airplane landed with 174 freed hostages on board at the Frankfurt Airport.Willy Brandt died of colon cancer at his home in Unkel, a town on the River Rhine, on 8 October 1992, at the age of 78.