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A hotel manager and her two dogs were airlifted to safety just 90 minutes before a hero British contractor was killed by ISIS-linked terrorists in Africa, an inquest heard.
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inquest → see → Africa
Philip Mawer, 58, was trapped at the Amarula Hotel in the coastal town of Palma, Mozambique when it came under attack from al-Shabaab in March 2021.
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it → trap → March
He turned down a helicopter evacuation 'insisting women and children went first' opting to drive himself to safety but died fleeing the hotel in a road convoy the next day when his vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
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vehicle → turn → grenade
Mawer, originally from Somerset, had been working in Mozambique as a project manager for RA International, which was contracted to build workers' accommodation for 'the largest gas operation in Africa' run by TotalEnergies.
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which → work → TotalEnergies
On Tuesday, at an inquest into Mr Mawer's death, a contractor accused a hotel manager of 'abandoning' Mr Mawer and other guests describing how they 'locked the fridges and switched off the WIFI' before fleeing in a helicopter with two dogs.
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they → accuse → dogs
The Winchester inquest also heard claims that a rescue attempt by the SAS was blocked by French energy giant TotalEnergies, which was also accused of failing to provide enough fuel for evacuation helicopters.
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which → hear → helicopters
TotalEnergies was said to have acted 'contrary to the interests of Mr Mawer and everyone there' and more people could have been saved if they had provided fuel for helicopters.
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they → say → helicopters
The inquest heard that if Dyck Advisory Group (DAG), which had provided helicopters to the Mozambique government, had been given more fuel they would have 'saved a lot more people'.
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they → hear → people
Philip Mawer, 58, had been working on a project to construct a new gas field in Mozambique when Isis-linked terrorists attacked his hotel on March 24, 2021
Mr Mawer, a contractor from Somerset, was offered a helicopter evacuation the day after the siege had started, but turned it down, 'insisting women and children went first'
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women → work → it
Contractor Nicholas Alexander, who was also at the hotel, was in the final vehicle in the convoy that attempted to escape, with Mr Mawer just one vehicle ahead of him.
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that → attempt → him
Mr Alexander said the decision to flee in convoy was 'provoked' by news that
insurgents were at the south of the compound and 'the manager leaving on the Everett chopper'.
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insurgents → say → chopper
'He locked the fridges, switched off the WiFi, took the dogs and went.
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He → lock → dogs
He abandoned the rest of us,' he said.
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he → abandon → us
'On Thursday night we were terrified, we thought an attack on the hotel might be imminent.
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attack → terrify → hotel
We thought we should make a run for the border or the beach.
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we → think → border
Reports from the time suggest Amarula hotel manager, Timothy Robert, drew up lists of people to go in the evacuation flights, and was evacuated by a helicopter operated by Everett along with Lynn Lury, his boss, and her two dogs which were put in the hold.
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which → suggest → hold
Bill Mawer, Mr Mawer's brother, told the inquest he pleaded with his brother to leave on a helicopter and 'save himself'.
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he → tell → himself
Mr Mawer said: 'I urged him in just about my last message to him to get on one.
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I → say → one
It was time to save himself - he'd already been saving other people.
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he → save → people
And he said he would.
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he → say → ?
'He knew the situation he was in was very scary.
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he → know → ?
There was no discussion at the time of the escape, he thought the helicopters would come back and they would be rescued.
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they → be → escape
They chose what they thought was the only way out.'
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they → choose → ?
Mr Mawer also expressed his frustration that the family had not been able to question Total about the lack of fuel and other issues.
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family → express → fuel
Earlier, Francesca Wiley KC, representing Mr Mawer's family, said that on March 28 2021 the SAS was dispatched from Kenya to rescue him as they mistakenly believed he was still alive.
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he → represent → him
He had died two days earlier.
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He → die → ?
Ms Wiley KC said: 'The SAS were dispatched, believing Mr Mawer to be alive and to recover him alive, and were not assisted by Total [TotalEnergies].
'There could have been far more helicopters if there had been more fuel and a far larger amount of people could have been saved.
'
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amount → say → people
They acted contrary to the interests of Mr Mawer and everyone there despite their guarantee of their safety.
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They → act → safety
'
But after a legal discussion, Coroner Jason Pegg ruled that Ms Wiley KC strayed out of the appropriate line of questioning and no more details about the attempted SAS rescue operation were shared.
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details → rule → operation
The inquest was told DAG had to resort to stealing fuel from TotalEnergies so they could continue the rescue operations during the attack, after the energy company refused to supply them.
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company → tell → them
DAG provided six armed helicopters to the Mozambique government which it was using to rescue people and simultaneously fight off forces from Al-Shabaab.
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it → provide → Shabaab
Max Dyck, chief executive officer of South Africa-based DAG, said more people could have been saved had they had more fuel.
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they → base → fuel
'The whole period the fighting was continuous,' he said.
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he → say → ?
For the hundreds of people fleeing it was incredibly chaotic.
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it → flee → people
'We were engaged with Al-Shabaab the whole time.
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We → engage → Shabaab
There wasn't a helicopter there that we didn't have to patch up by the end of it.'
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we → be → it
He said Total had denied his company's requests for fuel, saying 'we never got fuel directly from Total' and that there were a 'multitude of moving parts to get fuel'.
'
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we → say → fuel
Could we have saved a lot more people?
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we → save → people
'Some days we flew so much that we didn't have enough fuel to get up there and only had enough to get back.
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we → fly → enough
In one instance we didn't have enough fuel to get back and had to put a chopper down in the bush.
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we → have → bush
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
