Police are dealing with an ongoing incident on the Thames Estuary relating to the discovery of illegal migrants on board a cargo ship.
The migrants were reportedly discovered on the 236-metre Grimaldi shipping line vessel Grande Tema, which was travelling from Nigeria. It is now circling in the iconic estuary at a point north-east of Margate, Kent, near the boundary with neighbouring Essex.
Authorities say the incident is not being treated as a “hostage, piracy or terror-related incident” at this time, with a statement from Essex Police advising: “We continue to deal with a complex incident on board a vessel that is in the Thames Estuary close to the Essex and Kent borders.
“This follows a call relating to the safety of crew on board at around 9:15 a.m. today, Friday, December 21.”
Sky News sources from the Grimaldi shipping line say the stowaways have threatened crew members with “whatever they could find, pieces of iron, tubes, things like that”, with a view to forcing the captain to bring them close enough to the shoreline to swim for it.
The police statement claims they have “received no reports that anyone has been harmed and don’t believe they are at risk” — although this somewhat contradicts their initial claim to have been informed of the situation following a call “relating to the safety of crew” and the information provided by the Grimaldi shipping line, which describes the crew as locked in the bridge and subject to threats by the migrants.
“We are working closely with our partners to resolve this incident as quick as possible,” the police statement concludes.
This story is developing…
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