Manus Island asylum seekers locked in during detention centre 'incident', reports say October 19, 2013 - 6:20PM 60 reading now Asylum seekers on Manus Island were told to ""wear your shoes and take care of your lives"" as security guards at the detention centre reportedly locked them inside and then ran away during an ""incident"" at the centre on Friday. Witnesses have recounted the terrifying moments when they saw all the staff leave the centre, lock the gates and run with packed bags towards an Australian navy ship, leaving the detainees alone and unguarded for two hours. The witness accounts from Manus came after the Minister for Immigration Scott Morrison refused to reveal what had happened during the ""incident"" on Friday morning. Mr Morrison had told a weekly Operation Sovereign Borders media briefing that "there was an incident ... and appropriate steps were taken to ensure staff were placed in safety." He initially told the briefing that the medical staff had been evacuated to the navy vessel the HMAS Choules which is anchored nearby providing accommodation, but later put out a statement saying that was not correct and there was no evacuation. Mr Morrison said the incident involved PNG agencies, was a matter for the PNG government and refused to elaborate further. "The government can confirm that no transferees were under threat during this incident and that none were harmed," Mr Morrison said in the statement. He also said that the centre was continuing to operate normally and all staff continued to ""remain onsite performing their assigned duties"." There have been varying reports about what happened including that the attack on the centre was the result of local unrest over the construction of the new detention centre camp on the island as well as reports that a PNG soldier got drunk and then had a fight with another soldier and police reinforcements were called in. Mr Morrison could not be contacted for comment on Saturday.