Stowaways Travel From Nigeria To Canary Islands On Ship’s Rudder

Stowaways Travel From Nigeria To Canary Islands On Ship’s Rudder

Three stowaways who had been traveling for 11 days on a ship’s rudder were rescued by the Spanish coastguard and hospitalized in the Canary Islands, according to Spanish authorities.

According to the ship-tracking website Marine Traffic, the large ship left Lagos, Nigeria on November 17, and the men were rescued on Monday.

The men were discovered on the Alithini II oil tanker at the Las Palmas port with symptoms of dehydration and hypothermia and were transferred to hospitals on the island for medical attention, according to Spain’s Salvamento Martimo.

At least three migrants and refugees had hung onto the narrow metallic rudder throughout the journey, their feet dangling just a few feet above the Atlantic Ocean.

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The three men are seen perched on the rudder of the oil tanker in a photograph shared on Twitter by Spain’s coastguard on Monday.

The coastguard stated that the stowaways were rescued after the tanker docked.

Though extremely dangerous, stowaways have been discovered traveling on the rudders of commercial ships to the Canary Islands, which are located approximately 97 kilometers (60 miles) off the coast of Morocco.

According to Spanish authorities, six others were discovered traveling from Nigeria on the rudders of two tankers in late 2020.

A 14-year-old boy who arrived in 2020 told the Spanish daily El Pais about his harrowing two-week journey.

He described how the stowaways had to take turns sleeping because there was only enough room for one person to lie down at a time; how they got cold and wet and had to dry off for hours; and how his urine turned green after drinking seawater.

Txema Santana, the Canary Islands’ migration adviser, warned in a tweet that the most recent arrivals “won’t be the last” and that “stowaways don’t always have the same luck.”

The migration route from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands is among the world’s most dangerous.

Santana estimated in September that approximately 1,000 migrants and refugees had died or disappeared while attempting to reach the Spanish archipelago this year.

According to Spain’s Interior Ministry, as of November 15, nearly 15,000 migrants and refugees had arrived in the Canary Islands by sea this year, a decrease of 18% from the same time last year. Most make the long journey from West Africa on small rafts, with an increasing number of inflatable rafts.

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