This is the Guardian.

Today, the story of a ship in distress, seven starways, and a hijacking that wasn't what it seemed.

In the autumn of 2020, the conversation around immigration in the UK, which is often a Tetchuon, had grown fibrill.

The number of migrants crossing the channel, a stretch of the ocean separating southern England from northern France, had rapidly increased.

More than 2,000 people had attempted the journey in boats and even in dinghies, compared with 500 in the same period in 2019.

Politicians and the media seized on these crossings, not necessarily as a humanitarian crisis,

but as evidence of Britain's failure to protect its borders.

On the morning of October 25th, a ship entered British waters and made a call to land that would inflame the situation even more.

The Navi andromeda, which is a crude oil tanker, an absolutely massive, was six miles off the coast of the Isle of White, so it was actually visible from the island.

The Navi andromeda was carrying 22 crew members and was on route from Lagos in Nigeria, and due to dock near Southampton at 10.30 on Sunday morning.

At around 9am, the captain sent out a distress call to the British Coast Guard.

The captain, who was on the boat, was saying that he immediately needed agency assistance because Stoweways on board had broken out of the cabin where they were being held.

He was calling for help.

By around lunchtime, the story had broken in the media, and Isle of White Radio, the local radio station, reported it as an attempted hijacking.

That's when the story first came to the attention of journalists, Samir Ashakal.

I remember seeing it on Twitter, there were lots of people tweeting about this incident off the Isle of White and photos of the boat taken from the shore and sort of wondering what was going on there.

But as frantic media speculation bubbled online and on air, the situation behind the scenes quickly escalated.

By mid afternoon, there were Coast Guard helicopters circling over the ship, and by around 7pm there was a full-scale military operation.

involving four helicopters, and we think around 16 members of the Special Boat Service, the SPS, who descended on ropes onto the deck of this ship, and used what the toll was, overwhelming force to detain these seven individuals.

The whole operation lasting just about 9 minutes, extraordinary moments.

I think both the police and the forces did a fantastic job, and I thank them very much for what they did to keep us short safe.

But behind the political posturing and the media commotion, there is the hidden story of seven desperate stowaways fleeing Nigeria and how Britain treated them.

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