A cargo ship crew have locked themselves in a cabin after a group of stowaway migrants began threatening them with iron bars.

Essex police said they have received no reports of any injuries on board the ship in the Thames estuary, but a spokesman for the ship company said four armed stowaways are threatening staff.

The spokesman said the migrants were demanding the Italian vessel, called the Grande Tema, went closer to the Kent coast so they could swim to shore.

The Grande Tema is currently off the coast of Margate in Kent (Picture: wikicommons)

The ship set off from Lagos in Nigeria last Monday, and is currently off the coast of Margate in Kent.




Paul Kyprianou, a spokesman for Grimaldi Lines, the operator of the ship, told Sky News: ‘We found four stowaways on the vessel.

‘The vessel was coming from Nigeria and was bound to Tilbury and those four stowaways were in the cabin, and today they managed to escape from the cabin and they started threatening the crew, requesting the master of the vessel navigating very close to the coast.

‘That request was probably because they wanted to jump and reach the British coast.

‘The crew reacted and they locked themselves in the bridge of the vessel and so they are safe, we haven’t had any injuries.

It’s currently off the coast of Margate in Kent (Picture: Marine Traffic) He added: ‘The master is in continuous contact with the UK authorities, particularly with the Essex police and the coastguard. We are waiting to see what is going to happen, we expect authorities to intervene.’ Mr Kyprianou continued: ‘They managed to get some, whatever they could find on the vessel, pieces of iron tubes and things like that that they were using in order to threaten. ‘It’s a small group but obviously you can understand it would be scary. ‘The problem is the four people free on the deck threatening members and requesting them to get closer. No injuries so far but obviously it’s a tense atmosphere.’ Essex Police said they are continuing to deal with the ‘complex’ situation close to the Kent border. ‘This follows a call relating to the safety of crew on board at around 9.15am today, Friday, December 21,’ the force said. It appears to be going around in circles off the Kent coast (Picture: Marine Traffic)

‘We have received no reports that anyone has been harmed and don’t believe they are at risk. We are not currently treating this as either a hostage, piracy or terror related incident.

‘We are working closely with our partners to resolve this incident as quick as possible. ‘We are not in a position to provide any details about who is on board at this stage.’

According to ship monitoring site Marine Traffic, the Grande Tema appears to be going around in circles off the Kent coast.

The Dover Shipping Strait Facebook page posted earlier: ‘BREAKING: Piracy in the Thames Estuary….

‘Reports coming in of stowaways aboard Grande Tema threatening the crew. Incident is ongoing.’

Nige Scutt runs the page and told The Sun: ‘I had calls from two separate sources. One said it was stowaways on board.

‘But the other said that stowaways had come out and made their presence known and have taken over areas of the ship or the vessel itself and threatened the crew in the process.

‘If that is the case then that is piracy. You normally hear of this off the Horn of Africa – not the Thames Estuary.’

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