Three stowaways had been captured sitting on the enormous rudder of an oil tanker after they survived a exceptional 11-day voyage from Nigeria to the Canary Islands.
The Spanish coast guard posted a dramatic photograph of the three males precariously perched atop the rudder of the Maltese-flagged Alithini II because it arrived in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, on Monday.
Their ft are seen dangling simply inches above the water behind the huge hull.
The ship — which left Lagos, Nigeria, on Nov. 17 — lined some 2,000 miles throughout the 11-day journey to the Spanish territory off northwest Africa, in keeping with monitoring web site Marine Visitors.
They had been handled for dehydration and hypothermia after their perilous journey, officers stated.
Txema Santana, a migration adviser to the native authorities, stated in a tweet: “It isn't the primary and it'll not be the final. Stowaways don't at all times have the identical luck.”
In 2020, a 14-year-old Nigerian boy was interviewed by Spain’s El País after lasting 15 days on a ship’s rudder after a visit from Lagos.
He survived on salt water and by taking turns sleeping in a gap above the rudder with the opposite folks he was touring with, the BBC reported.
“We had been very weak. I by no means imagined it may very well be this difficult,” the boy instructed the newspaper.
Additionally that 12 months, 4 males had been discovered on the rudder of the Norwegian tanker Champion Pula, which additionally sailed from Nigeria to Las Palmas, the BBC reported, citing studies that they hid in a room behind the rudder throughout its 10 days at sea.
Hundreds of African migrants and refugees have reached the Canary Islands in recent times by making the damaging voyage on crowded boats after departing from the coast of Morocco, the western Sahara, Mauritania and even Senegal.
To date this 12 months, greater than 11,600 folks have reached the Spanish islands by boat, in keeping with Spain’s Inside Ministry.
With Submit wires
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