Hero British worker was murdered by terrorists who besieged African hotel 90 minutes after manager 'abandoned' victims and was airlifted to safety with their DOGS, inquest told

A hotel manager who 'abandoned' the guests was airlifted to safety with her two dogs just 90 minutes before a hero British contractor was killed by Isis-linked terrorists in Africa, an inquest heard. Philip Mawer, 58, was trapped at the Amarula Hotel in the coastal town of Palma in Mozambique when it came under attack from militant group al-Shabaab in March 2021.He was offered an evacuation via helicopter but turned it down, 'insisting women and children went first'. He opted to drive himself to safety the next day but died fleeing the hotel in a road convoy when his vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. Mr 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.On Tuesday, at an inquest into Mr Mawer's death, the hotel manager was accused of 'abandoning' the guests. It was said that management 'locked the fridges and switched off the wifi' before fleeing in a helicopter with two 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. 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. The inquest heard that if the private military company which had provided the helicopters to the Mozambique government, the Dyck Advisory Group (DAG), had been given more fuel they would have 'saved a lot more 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'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.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'. '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.'We were all very scared but Philip was a strong chap. Everyone was visibly nervous, we were all very scared.'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. Bill Mawer, Mr Mawer's brother, told the inquest he pleaded with his brother to leave on a helicopter and 'save himself'.Mr Mawer said: 'I urged him in just about my last message to him to get on one. It was time to save himself - he'd already been saving other people. And he said he would.'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].'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.