While British sailors were being held by Iran and the world pondered if London would send in Special Forces to recover them, the Irish Army launched a rescue of their own.

The Army helped six government ministers escape a faulty elevator in the Irish Parliament building which held them hostage for about 30 minutes.

According to Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern, who was trapped alongside other members of the Cabinet, "After about 20 minutes it wasn't very nice, it was getting quite hot."

However, the Ministers of Finance, Health, Education, Agriculture and Communications all made the best of it, telling "all sorts of jokes," Ahern admits.

Ahern told Irish radio station RTE, "One or other of us thought we'd call in (Defense Minister) Willie O'Dea... we decided we might as well call in the army."

The Defense Minister, who was reached on his cell phone, called in the troops to help get them out. No one was harmed in the operation.