Man killed by insurgents gave up helicopter place

A British man killed as he tried to flee from a Mozambiquan hotel besieged by insurgents had given up his space on a rescue helicopter the day before, a coroner said.

Philip Mawer was working in Palma, in the north of the African country, when Islamist militants attacked in March 2021.

The 58-year-old, from Shaftesbury, Dorset, was in a convoy of vehicles that had left the Amarula Hotel over fears it would be overrun by the rebel fighters.

Hampshire coroner Jason Pegg, who concluded Mawer was unlawfully killed, said he "gallantly" gave up his space on the helicopter, allowing women, children and the sick to be evacuated first.

Pegg said Mawer also refused a seat in an armoured vehicle in the convoy, instead choosing to take his own "soft-skin" vehicle with two passengers.

Mawer had worked for construction firm RA International in the country for 18 months, managing the building of camps for workers involved in a natural gas project nearby.

Addressing Mawer's two brothers, who attended the inquest in Winchester, Pegg said: "Your brother was a true leader. He put his team and others first before himself and he did so at a time when it's quite likely, very likely, he would have been in fear.

"Despite the threat to Philip personally, despite the hostile environment in which he found himself, Philip had the character, the gallantry, to put women and children first and I am sure you two brothers and the wider family are proud of Philip and rightly so."

The inquest was told that the Mozambiquan government had contracted the South Africa-based Dyck Advisory Group (DAG) to provide armoured helicopters to help in its fight against the insurgency.

Pegg said that although the DAG helicopters rescued 24 people from the hotel, their operations were under control of the Mozambiquan police and it was not under their discretion to carry out further evacuation missions.

More than 6,000 people are thought to have died since the Islamic insurgency began in the Cabo Delgado province of the country in 2017.

Mawer's brother, William, told the hearing that he was "an absolutely amazing individual and his key characteristics were his incredible generosity, his lust for life, his sense of humour and his ability to get things done in really crazy difficult situations."