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The UK Army took control of a tanker that dropped anchor in the English Channel after reporting that it had seven stowaways on board who had turned violent.
Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the House of Commons Defense Committee, confirmed the action in an interview with the BBC and said no one was injured.
The stowaways are in custody.
Uncredited / AP
The incident reportedly took place aboard the Libyan-registered tanker Nave Andromeda south of Sandown on the Isle of Wight, according to Isle of Wight Radio.
The incident began around 10 am local time on the Libyan-registered tanker Nave Andromeda. The coast guard raised two helicopters to the scene and the authorities imposed a five-kilometer exclusion zone around the ship.
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The Andromeda Ship left Lagos, Nigeria, on October 6 and was expected to dock in Southampton, England, at 10.30am on Sunday, according to the ship tracking website MarineTraffic.com.
The tanker had been circling an area about 5 miles southeast of Sandown on the Isle of Wight since about 10 a.m., tracking data shows.
Chris Parry, a retired Royal Navy rear admiral who is now a member of the Royal United Services Institute, told The Associated Press that he suspects stowaways turned violent as the tanker approached the port and the crew retreated to an area. safe known as “the citadel”. ” to maintain control of the boat.
Uncredited / AP
British police are investigating an undisclosed incident aboard an oil tanker in the English Channel.
The captain likely wanted to avoid taking a fully loaded tanker into the densely populated area near the Portsmouth naval base, where British carriers are based, as long as this incident continues, Parry said.
“You don’t want this ship around with this kind of thing,” he said.
“ So the captain probably quite wisely and in consultation with her owners went to anchor off the Isle of Wight. ”
