Three stowaways were caught perched on the giant rudder of an oil tanker after they shockingly survived an 11-day ordeal from Nigeria to the Canary Islands.
The Spanish coast guard posted the shocking photo of the three men barely fitting on top of the rudder of the Maltese-flagged Alithini II as it arrived in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, on Monday.
The men with their feet dangling just inches above the water were exhausted but alive.
The ship left Lagos, Nigeria, on Nov. 17 and covered approximately 2,000 miles over an 11-day journey.
The men were treated for dehydration and hypothermia after their dangerous trip, officials said.
Txema Santana, a migration adviser to the local government, said in a Twitter post, “It is not the first and it will not be the last. Stowaways do not always have the same luck.”
A human rights organization asked the Spanish government to halt the potential return to Nigeria of three men found traveling on an oil tanker’s rudder after an 11-day ocean voyage from Lagos, Nigeria to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. https://t.co/PJooAN67lB
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 30, 2022
In 2020, a 14-year-old Nigerian boy stowed away on a rudder of a ship and spent 15 days at sea.
Shockingly, he survived as well by drinking salt water and by sleeping in a hole above the rudder. The boy was with a few others who took turns sleeping too according to BBC.
“We were very weak. I never imagined it could be this hard,” the boy stated.
Thousands of African immigrants and refugees have tried the same dangerous voyage over the years.
As reported on Fox News,
More than 11,600 individuals have arrived at the Spanish islands by boat this year alone, according to Spain’s Interior Ministry. The U.N.’s International Organization for Migration previously recorded 1,126 total deaths while en route in 2021.
