A hotel manager and her two dogs were flown to safety just 90 minutes before British contractor Philip Mawer was killed by ISIS-linked militants in Africa, an inquest has heard.
Mr Mawer, 58, was trapped at the Amarula Hotel in Palma, a coastal town in Mozambique, when al-Shabaab fighters launched their attack in March 2021.
He declined an offer of helicopter evacuation, reportedly insisting that women and children should leave first. Instead, he attempted to drive to safety, but was killed the following day when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle during a convoy fleeing the hotel.
Originally from Somerset, Mr Mawer was working in Mozambique as a project manager for RA International. The company had been contracted to build accommodation for workers involved in what was described as Africa’s largest gas operation, run by TotalEnergies.
At an inquest in Winchester on Tuesday, fellow contractor Nicholas Alexander accused a hotel manager of “abandoning” Mr Mawer and other guests. He told the hearing that the manager locked the refrigerators, disconnected the WiFi and escaped by helicopter with two dogs.
The hearing also heard allegations that TotalEnergies, the French energy giant, blocked an attempted rescue by the SAS and failed to provide sufficient fuel for helicopters taking part in the evacuation.
TotalEnergies was accused of acting “contrary to the interests of Mr Mawer and everyone there”. The inquest heard that more people might have been rescued had additional helicopter fuel been made available.
The court was told that Dyck Advisory Group (DAG), which had supplied helicopters to the Mozambican government, could have “saved a lot more people” if it had received more fuel.
Philip Mawer, 58, was working on a project to develop a new gas field in Mozambique when ISIS-linked militants attacked his hotel on March 24, 2021.
The Somerset contractor was offered a place on a helicopter the day after the siege began, but turned it down, reportedly insisting that “women and children went first”.
Mr Alexander was travelling in the last vehicle of the convoy that tried to escape the hotel. Mr Mawer was in the vehicle immediately ahead of him.
He said the decision to leave in convoy was “provoked” by reports that insurgents had reached the southern part of the compound and that the manager had departed on the Everett helicopter.
According to Mr Alexander, the departure of the manager heightened fears among those still trapped inside the hotel.
“He locked the fridges, switched off the WiFi, took the dogs and went. He abandoned the rest of us,” he said.
“On Thursday night we were terrified. We thought an attack on the hotel might be imminent. We thought we should make a run for the border or the beach.”
He added: “We were all very scared, but Philip was a strong chap. Everyone was visibly nervous; we were all very scared.”
Contemporary reports stated that Amarula hotel manager Timothy Robert had prepared lists of people for evacuation flights. He was reportedly flown out on an Everett-operated helicopter alongside his boss, Lynn Lury, and her two dogs, which were carried in the hold.
Bill Mawer, Philip’s brother, told the inquest that he had urged him to take a helicopter and “save himself”.
“I urged him in just about my last message to him to get on one,” Mr Mawer said. “It was time to save himself — he’d already been saving other people. And he said he would.”
He continued: “He knew the situation he was in was very scary. There was no discussion at the time of the escape; he thought the helicopters would come back and they would be rescued. They chose what they thought was the only way out.”
Mr Mawer also expressed his frustration that the family had not been able to question Total about the lack of fuel and other issues.
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. He had died two days earlier.
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].
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‘There could have been far more helicopters if there had been more fuel and a far larger amount of people could have been saved.
‘They acted contrary to the interests of Mr Mawer and everyone there despite their guarantee of their 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.
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.
DAG provided six armed helicopters to the Mozambique government which it was using to rescue people and simultaneously fight off forces from Al-Shabaab.
Max Dyck, chief executive officer of South Africa-based DAG, said more people could have been saved had they had more fuel.
‘The whole period the fighting was continuous,’ he said. It was during the day, it was during the night, it was in the whole city. For the hundreds of people fleeing it was incredibly chaotic.
‘We were engaged with Al-Shabaab the whole time. There wasn’t a helicopter there that we didn’t have to patch up by the end of 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’.
‘Could we have saved a lot more people? Definitely.
‘Some days we flew so much that we didn’t have enough fuel to get up there and only had enough to get back. In one instance we didn’t have enough fuel to get back and had to put a chopper down in the bush.
‘If we had access to it, we could have done a lot more.
‘The Mozambican government gave some to us, we managed to purchase some and fly it in.
‘When the SAS came they asked us what the one thing we needed was and we said fuel so they gave us 20 barrels.
‘Some of the people inside of Afungi [TotalEnergies’s site in Mozambique] were liberating fuel from inside and putting it down in certain areas for us and we would land and collect it.
‘We never directly got fuel from Total. I think it was a Kenyan guy working on the base who snuck a hose off the runway, and a couple of guys would sneak a barrel or two off.’
Ms Wiley KC asked Mr Dyck: ‘Were you aware there was an Everett landing at the Amarula that picked up the manager, some of his staff and his dogs?
Mr Dyck replied: ‘Yes, I’m very aware of that because people thought it was us and we got accused of all kinds of racism.
‘We’d been tasked to clear the insurgents so the chopper could land to collect the manager of the hotel and his pets.
‘Very shortly after that the convoy left the Amarula hotel which included Mr Mawer.’
Ms Wiley KC concluded: ‘The volume of landings could have been exponentially increased with more fuel and that could have saved Mr Mawer.’
Lawyer Adam Payter is appearing at the inquest on behalf of TotalEnergies and its subsidiary.
The inquest continues.