LONDON – British soldiers yesterday boarded an oil tanker off England’s south coast and detained seven suspects, the defence ministry said, after the crew were forced to take shelter from stowaways who threatened them.
The alert had been raised for the welfare of the crew of the Nave Andromeda tanker around 10am GMT (6pm Malaysian time) after they were forced to retreat to a safe area.
“In response to a police request, the Defence Secretary and Home Secretary authorised Armed Forces personnel to board a ship in the English Channel... that was subject to suspected hijacking,” the Ministry of Defence posted on Twitter.
“Armed forces have gained control of the ship and seven individuals have been detained,” the ministry said, adding that the crew were “safe and well”.
Stowaways “had made verbal threats towards the crew” but “no-one has been reported injured”, police in the southern county of Hampshire said earlier, adding that they had imposed a 5km exclusion zone around the tanker.
The ship was around six miles off the Isle of Wight on England’s south coast, police added.
Britain’s coastguard and border protection agencies were called in to help defuse the incident.
A coastguard spokesman said two helicopters had been sent to support the police.
Law firm Tatham & Co., which represents the ship’s owners, told the BBC that the incident was “100% not a hijacking”.
Rather, the stowaways resisted being locked in a cabin after being discovered, the lawyers added.
A source close to the shipping company also told the BBC that crew had been aware of stowaways on board for some time, but that they had turned violent as the vessel approached Britain.
The crew then retreated to the ship’s secure citadel, where attackers are unable to enter, added the source.
The boat left Nigeria last week carrying 42,000 tonnes of crude oil and was due to dock in Southampton earlier Sunday. – AFP, October 26, 2020
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