A dozen heavily armed Special Boat Service commandos abseiled from a helicopter on to a cargo ship in a daring mission to end a hostage drama in the English Channel.
Under cover of darkness, the crack troops swung on to the deck of the 770ft Grande Tema to tackle a gang of iron- bar-wielding stowaways who had forced the terrified crew to take refuge on the bridge.
As their Royal Navy Merlin helicopter hovered overhead, the SBS team – armed with assault rifles – rounded up the men and locked them in a cabin before freeing the ship’s 27 Italian and Filipino sailors.
The dramatic scenes played out late on Friday after the stowaways launched a desperate bid to force the ship’s captain to sail close enough to the Essex coast for them to swim ashore
Once the mission – understood to have been codenamed Operation Buckthorn – was complete, the troops were joined by police officers who arrested the stowaways.
Last night, a spokesman for the Grimaldi Group, which owns the ship, described how the SBS ordered the crew to help neutralise the gang.
Paul Kyprianou said: ‘Just before the Special Forces made their intervention, we were asked to switch off all the lights. Then they stormed aboard and the stowaways were put in a cabin. Then another helicopter landed on the ship with six police officers on board.
‘The whole operation took about 20 minutes. Everything went smoothly.
‘They [the crew] are just glad they are safe. You can imagine.’
A dozen heavily armed Special Boat Service commandos, left, abseiled from a helicopter, right, on to a cargo ship in a daring mission to end a hostage drama in the English Channel
The dramatic scenes played out late on Friday after the stowaways launched a desperate bid to force the ship’s captain to sail close enough to the Essex coast for them to swim ashore.
The 71,000-ton vessel sailed from Lagos in Nigeria on December 7. Eleven days later, the crew found four stowaways hiding in its vast cargo hold.
In accordance with international regulations, they gave them food and accommodation.
The 71,000-ton vessel sailed from Lagos in Nigeria on December 7. Eleven days later, the crew found four stowaways hiding in its vast cargo hold
But when the Italian-registered vessel entered the English Channel on Friday morning, the group broke out of their locked cabin and, after arming themselves with weapons, attempted to storm the bridge.
When they demanded the ship change course, the skipper alerted the UK coastguard.
The Ministry of Defence was briefed and the dramatic rescue mission planned.
Under cover of darkness, the crack troops swung on to the deck of the 770ft Grande Tema to tackle a gang of iron- bar-wielding stowaways who had forced the terrified crew to take refuge on the bridge
First two Merlins were scrambled from their base in Yeovilton, Somerset, to the SBS HQ in Poole where they were met by commanders of the Special Forces unit’s elite X Squadron.
After getting the 12-strong team and their equipment on board, the helicopters flew to RAF Manston in Kent where the final touches to Operation Buckthorn were made.
A source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘One of the Merlins took off from Manston at around 10.45pm and flew out over the Kent coast and north towards the vessel. As they approached the ship the SBS commandos seated inside the helicopter pulled down their infrared night vision goggles, which offer almost perfect vision even in pitch black conditions, and the order was given to the ship’s captain to turn off all the lights.
‘The Merlin hovered over the rear of the ship and the guys fast-roped down, quickly making their way towards the bridge.
‘They got the situation under control very quickly, none of the kidnappers offered resistance. The crew looked mightily relieved.
Essex police confirmed that the vessel had docked at Tilbury and that four men had been detained under the Immigration Act
‘For some SBS commandos this was their first mission so they got good experience out of it too.’
Mr Kyprianou added: ‘At the beginning the stowaways weren’t violent. We gave them accommodation and food.
‘They were calm but then, when the vessel was closer to shore, they changed their behaviour. They were young and they were African. We don’t know the nationality.
‘They probably managed to board the vessel in Lagos but we do not have information regarding the nationality.’
Essex police confirmed that the vessel had docked at Tilbury and that four men had been detained under the Immigration Act.
Link hienalouca.comhttps://hienalouca.com/2018/12/23/how-elite-sbs-x-unit-rescued-crew-of-cargo-ship-from-iron-bar-wielding-stowaways/
Main photo article A dozen heavily armed Special Boat Service commandos abseiled from a helicopter on to a cargo ship in a daring mission to end a hostage drama in the English Channel.
Under cover of darkness, the crack troops swung on to the deck of the 770ft Grande Tema to tackle a gang of iron- bar-wielding...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
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