A Coast Guard spokesman said two helicopters had been dispatched to support the police (Representation)
London:
British soldiers boarded an oil tanker off England’s south coast on Sunday and arrested seven suspects, the Department of Defense said, after the crew was forced to relocate. shelter from stowaways who threatened them.
The alert was lifted for the welfare of the crew of the tanker Nave Andromeda around 10:00 GMT after they were forced to withdraw to a safe area.
“In response to a request from the police, the Secretary of Defense and the Minister of the Interior authorized personnel of the armed forces to board a ship in the English Channel … which was the subject of a hijacking, “the Defense Ministry posted on Twitter.
“The armed forces took control of the ship and seven people were arrested,” the ministry said, adding that the crew were “safe and sound”.
The stowaways “had made verbal threats against the crew” but “no one was reported injured,” South Hampshire Police said, adding that they had imposed an exclusion zone five kilometers around the tanker.
The ship was about six miles off the Isle of Wight on the south coast of England, police added.
UK coast guards and border protection agencies have been called in to help defuse the incident.
A coast guard spokesman said two helicopters had been dispatched to support police.
Law firm Tatham & Co., which represents the owners of the ship, told the BBC the incident was “100% not a hijacking”.
On the contrary, 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 the crew had known about the stowaways on board for some time, but that they turned violent as the ship neared Britain.
The crew then retreated to the ship’s secure citadel, where attackers cannot enter, the source added.
The boat left Nigeria last week with 42,000 tonnes of crude oil and was due to dock in Southampton earlier on Sunday.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
