‘Next time it could be terrorists,’ Royal Navy officer’s warns after Isle of Wight stowaway incident

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A ‘hijacked’ oil tanker docked in Southampton this morning after being seized by special forces commandos after violence erupted when the crew tried to lock seven stowaway migrants in a cabin and threatened to report them. 

The captain of Nave Andromeda made a panicked mayday call at around 9am yesterday saying ‘I’m trying to keep them calm but please send help’ after confronting the Nigerian men as his ship sailed by the Isle of Wight. 

He ordered the 22 crew members into the ship’s citadel, an emergency room used during pirate attacks, and ‘clearly feared for their lives’ after the stowaways smashed glass and made threats to kill, according to a source.

A ten-hour standoff ensued before 16 Special Boat Service commandos, backed by airborne snipers, abseiled onto the 755ft tanker from blacked-out Merlin helicopters, while others used grappling irons to climb aboard from fast attack boats. 

The elite troops seized the seven stowaways in a show of ‘overwhelming force’ lasting just nine minutes. They are now in the custody of Hampshire Police. It is not yet known if they were armed. 

The Nave Andromeda, a Liberian-flagged tanker which was believed to have had 42,000 tons of crude oil on board, docked at Southampton around 2.30am this morning. None of the 22 crew were harmed. 

There have been reports the tanker had been hijacked, but lawyers representing the owners of the vessel, which had sailed from Lagos, told the BBC it was ‘100 per cent not a hijacking’. 

But former Royal Navy Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry said the incident was a warning to the British authorities, saying: ‘Next time they could be terrorists’.  

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Rear Admiral Dr Chris Parry told Good Morning Britain today: ‘Next time it may not be just stowaways. It could be terrorists, it could be people smugglers or anything.

‘We’ve got to approach this problem in a much more sophisticated way, we’ve got to up our intelligence. We’ve got to demand more from shipping companies and also from foreign countries with whom we do business. 

‘We’re into a whole era now of mass migration and I think that covers a lot of things that we probably won’t want to happen in our vicinity or in our country.’ 

The Nave Andromeda, which set off from Nigeria three weeks ago, had been due to dock in Southampton at 10.30am yesterday. It sent a mayday signal at around 9am off the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight.

Fears of a Hollywood-style hijacking as seen in films such as Captain Phillips were fuelled by tracking data from the website MarineTraffic, which appeared to show the tanker zig-zagging and going in circles.

Two Merlin helicopters and two Wildcat surveillance aircraft had been placed on standby, along with a Chinook at RAF Odiham in Hampshire.

The SBS had been warned of a ‘perceived serious threat to the vessel and potentially to the crew’. 

The elite unit routinely trains for such missions, using Wildcats to fly ahead and create a diversion while Merlins hover over the stern, allowing troops to storm the ship at 7.30pm.   

A frigate, believed to be HMS Richmond, was also on standby but not needed during the operation

Richard Meade, of the Lloyd’s List Intelligence maritime service, said he had been told by sources close to the ship’s owners that the crew had tried to detain the stowaways in a cabin.

He said: ‘Seven stowaways were discovered on board the vessel. The crew tried to detain them in a cabin, but the stowaways did not want to be locked away in a cabin and became violent and that raised the security alarm.

‘The assumption the flagged [state] is working on is that these stowaways came from Nigeria, where the destination started for this ship on October 6, and the assumption is they boarded through the rudder trunk of the vessel and have been hiding on the vessel ever since.’

Mr Meade said the crew had been in contact with officials in Liberia, where the ship was registered, suggesting they were still in control of the ship throughout.

He said: ‘I have this information from the Liberian ship register so if the crew and the skipper have communicated this level of detail…that suggests that they were in a position to be in communication and therefore in control.’

He said the working assumption was that the stowaways boarded the 228-metre long, 32-metre wide ship in Lagos, where it had set off from on October 6, and that they were Nigerian.  

A source close to the shipping company said that crew had been aware of stowaways on board for a day or two, but that they had turned violent when the crew tried to lock them in the cabin as the vessel approached Britain. 

The crew then retreated to the ship’s secure citadel, where attackers are unable to enter, the source added. 

Stowaways on board Nave Andromeda made ‘verbal threats towards crew’ but no-one has been reported injured, according to Hampshire Police.

Two coastguard helicopters were scrambled to the scene and were spotted circling the ship on Sunday afternoon, while an exclusion zone of five nautical miles was set up in the area south of Sandown. 

Home Secretary Priti Patel said last night: ‘Tonight we are thankful for the quick and decisive action of our police and armed forces who were able to bring this situation under control, guaranteeing the safety of all those on board.’ 

Bob Sanguinetti, chief executive of the UK Chamber of Shipping, said: ‘I think this has got all the hallmarks of a situation where a number of stowaways are seeking political asylum, presumably in the UK.

‘At some stage they got aggressive.

‘Clearly no one knew at the time how aggressive they were, whether they were armed or not, what their motives were, because there will have been confusion at that stage.

‘In the discussions taking place between the ship’s captain and the authorities in the UK – both police and the military – they will have decided at some stage the least risky option was to board the vessel using the special forces as it turned out in the end.’

The SBS is the elite maritime counter-terrorism unit of the Royal Navy, with most of its personnel Royal Marine Commandos, whose operations are highly classified and not officially confirmed. 

Maritime Risk Expert Christopher Parry told Sky News: ‘This sort of thing is the sort of thing the SBS trained to do. Ever since we had oil rigs in the North Sea this sort of operation has been the bread and butter to the Special Boat Service and specialist commandos.

‘We want to send out a message – don’t mess with us. Don’t try and come into our maritime zone and expect to stowaway, or indeed come in for any other reason, you will be met with appropriate force if necessary.’

A source on the Isle of Wight claimed during a mayday call this morning the captain told an operator ‘I’m trying to keep them calm but please send help.’

The source said: ‘The captain clearly stated he feared for their lives and needed urgent assistance, they needed rescuing… It was desperation, you could hear the fear in his voice.’ 

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: ‘In response to a police request, the Defence Secretary and Home Secretary authorised Armed Forces personnel to board a ship in the English Channel to safeguard life and secure a ship that was subject to suspected hijacking.

‘Armed forces have gained control of the ship and seven individuals have been detained. Police investigations will now continue. Initial reports confirm the crew are safe and well.’    

A Hampshire police spokesman said: ‘At 10.04am today (25 October) concerns were raised to police for the welfare of crew on board the vessel, which was situated approximately six miles off the coast of Bembridge.

‘The vessel had been travelling in the direction of Southampton, having sailed from Lagos in Nigeria. It was reported that a number of stowaways were on board, and they had made threats towards the crew.

‘Following a multi-agency response by police, with support from the military and other emergency service partners, seven people were detained by police. All 22 crew members are safe and well.

‘Police are investigating this incident and we have a number of enquiries to carry out to establish the full circumstances.’

The incident comes after an incident in which a group of stowaway ran amok on a cargo ship in the Thames Estuary in December 2018.

The men, from Nigeria and Liberia, waved metal poles and threw faeces and urine after being found hiding on the vessel, which was bound for Tilbury docks in Essex. 

The group demanded to be dropped off in Britain. They were arrested and jailed in January for affray offences following a trial at the Old Bailey in January. 

Today’s incident is near to the location where the 52,000 ton cargo ship the Hoegh Osaka was deliberately grounded to prevent it from capsizing after it began listing as it left port.

The vessel, which was carrying 1,400 cars, including Rolls Royces and Bentleys, became grounded on Bramble Bank in the Solent in January 2015, forcing emergency services to rescue all 25 crew members on board. 

UK Shipping CEO Bob Sanguinetti said the stowaways are likely to have boarded the ship before it departed Nigeria but it is not yet known when they were discovered by the crew.

‘It might have been entirely friendly for a number of days with the crew looking after the stowaways,’ he said.

‘But clearly, as the ship got closer to the UK, the stowaways got a bit more agitated and aggressive and that’s when the captain would’ve felt the crew of the ship were being threatened.’

He added: ‘I think what’s heartening from all of this is that the UK has sent a very, very clear message that ships and seafarers will not be allowed to get caught up in crises of asylum seekers or economic migrants.’