Spanish coastguard has rescued three (3) Nigerians [names withheld], who embarked on an 11-day tortuous and deadly journey, sitting on the rudder of a ship, from Lagos State, Nigeria to Spain.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports that the 3 Nigerians, stowed away on the rudder of the ship that arrived in the Canary Islands from Nigeria, were hospitalized immediately after they were found.
In a photograph distributed on Twitter by the coastguard on Monday, the three stowaways are shown perched on the rudder of the oil and chemical tanker, Althini II.
The 183-metre ship, sailing under a Maltese flag, arrived in Las Palmas in Gran Canaria on Monday after an 11-day voyage from Lagos in Nigeria, according to Marine Traffic, a ship-tracking website.
The migrants were taken into the port and attended to by health services, the coastguard said on Twitter.
“This afternoon, the Salvamar Nunki rescued three stowaways located on the rudder blade of the ship Althini II, anchored in the docks of the port of Las Palmas and coming from Nigeria. They have been transferred to the port and treated by health services,” a tweet by the coastguard translates.
The tortuous and deadly journey
According to data collected from maritime tracking portals, vesselfinder.com and marinetraffic.com, the oil and chemical tanker, Althini II left Lagos on the 17th of November 2022.
TNG reports that the three Nigerians were sighted in the hull of the ship with their feet barely half a meter to the water as seen in the photo attached to the tweet above.
The place where they were found is a small space located in the upper part of the rudder blade, on the outside of the hull, under the stern, out in the open and at the mercy of any blow of the sea.
It was gathered that the three Nigerian migrants suffered moderate dehydration after surviving the eleven-day crossing of the Atlantic on the ship’s rudder.
The emergency medical assistance provided them with initial care at the sports dock, as soon as they disembarked ashore.
But they were immediately referred to Doctor Negrín Hospital (two of them) and Insular Hospital (the third), given their situation.
They must return home – Spanish police
Meanwhile, Spanish police have disclosed that the 3 Nigerians must return home. A police spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday that they would be returned to Nigeria under stowaway laws.
A Canary Islands police spokesperson said it was up to the ship’s operator to take care of stowaways, provide them with temporary accommodation and return them to their origin as soon as possible.
However, the migrants may be able to remain in Spain if they claim asylum, Helena Maleno, director of migration non-governmental organisation Walking Borders, told Reuters.
“On several previous occasions, stowaways were able to remain in Spain with political asylum,” Maleno said.
Alithini II, which is owned by Gardenia Shiptrade SA, is managed by Athens-based Astra Ship Management, according to public shipping database Equasis.
TNG reports that the Spanish-owned Canary Islands are a popular gateway for African migrants attempting to reach Europe.
However, according to the Interior Ministry, the number of migrants arriving illegally to the archipelago by sea fell 17.6% to 14,875 in the first ten months of 2022, compared to a year earlier.
Meanwhile, this is not the first time that stowaways have been detected in the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in such a dangerous part of the ship.
In November 2020, three persons were found in the rudder blade of the Ocean Princess II, a San Vincent and the Grenadines; and a month earlier, another three on the Champion Pula, another Norwegian oil tanker.
The two ships had left Lagos as well.
