 Although the majority of the people in the embassy were captured , three managed to escape — two by climbing out of a ground @-@ floor window and the third by climbing across a first @-@ floor parapet to the Ethiopian Embassy next door . A fourth person , Gholam @-@ Ali Afrouz — the chargé d 'affaires and thus the most senior Iranian official present — briefly escaped by jumping out of a first @-@ floor window , but was injured in the process and quickly captured . Afrouz and the 25 other hostages were all taken to a room on the second floor . The majority of the hostages were embassy staff — predominantly Iranian nationals , but several British employees were also captured . The other hostages were all visitors , with the exception of Lock , the British police officer tasked with guarding the embassy . Afrouz had been appointed to the position less than a year before , his predecessor having been dismissed after the revolution . Abbas <unk> , who had been a butler before the revolution , was appointed the doorman by Afrouz . One of the British members of staff was Ron Morris , from Battersea , who had worked for the embassy in various positions since 1947 . 
