The Spanish coastguard has rescued three migrants stowed away on a ship that arrived in the Canary Islands from Nigeria.
The large ship had departed from Lagos, Nigeria on November 17, according to ship-tracking website Marine Traffic, and the men were rescued on Monday.
They were seen on the Alithini II oil tanker at the Las Palmas port, the men appeared to have symptoms of dehydration and hypothermia and were transferred to hospitals on the island for medical attention, Spain’s Salvamento Marítimo said.
Throughout the journey, at least three migrants and refugees had been hanging onto the narrow metallic rudder, with their feet dangling just a few feet above the Atlantic Ocean.
Alithini II, which is owned by Gardenia Shiptrade SA, is managed by Athens-based Astra Ship Management, according to public shipping database Equasis.
A photograph showing the trio was distributed on Twitter by the coastguard on Monday. They are seen perched on the rudder of the oil tanker.
The coast guard said the migrants were rescued by a coast guard vessel at about 7 p.m. local time (1900 GMT) on Monday.
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.
The stowaways were being treated for moderate dehydration and hypothermia, the Canary Islands emergency services and the Red Cross said. One of the migrants was in a more serious state and had to be taken to a different hospital on the island.
Recall that in late 2020, Spanish authorities identified six others travelling from Nigeria on the rudders of two tankers.
One of those who arrived in 2020 was a 14-year-old boy who narrated his harrowing two-week journey to the Spanish daily El Pais.
He described how the stowaways had to take turns sleeping because there was enough space for only one person to lie down at a time; how there was a fight and he was nearly thrown off the rudder; how they got cold and wet and it would take hours to dry off; how his urine turned green after drinking seawater.
The Spanish-owned Canary Islands are a popular gateway for African migrants attempting to reach Europe. The number of migrants arriving illegally to the archipelago by sea fell 17.6% to 14,875 in the first ten months of 2022 from a year earlier, according to the Interior Ministry.
In a tweet, migration adviser to the Canary Islands, Txema Santana, warned 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 one of the most dangerous in the world.
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