Migrants survive sat on rudder as ship arrives in Canary Islands

Three African migrants travelled on a ship’s rudder to achieve Spain’s Canary Islands, say authorities.

The lads appeared to have signs of dehydration and hypothermia and have been transferred to hospital for medical consideration, mentioned Salvamento Marítimo, Spain’s maritime rescue service.

They’d sat on the rudder of the Alithini II oil tanker, which left Lagos, Nigeria, on 17 November, and arrived in Las Palmas on Monday, in keeping with the MarineTraffic web site.

Las Palmas is the capital of Gran Canaria, one among Spain’s Canary Islands located off the northwest coast of Africa.

Traditionally, the islands have been a well-liked gateway for African migrants trying to achieve Europe since they’re simply 100 kilometres west of Morocco at their closest level to the African continent.

Spanish information exhibits migration by sea to the archipelago jumped 51% within the first 5 months of the yr in comparison with 2021.

Although extraordinarily harmful, it’s not the primary time stowaways have been discovered travelling on the rudder of business ships to the Canary Islands.

Final yr, a 14-year-old Nigerian boy was interviewed by Spain’s El País newspaper after surviving two weeks on a ship’s rudder. He had additionally departed from Lagos.

In October 2020, one other 4 individuals have been discovered by police at Las Palmas after stowing away on the rudder of an oil tanker from Lagos for 10 days.