Three African migrants have reached the Canary Islands in Spain having spent 11 days on a ship’s rudder from Lagos, according to the Guardian.
According to the report, the men seemed to have symptoms of dehydration and hypothermia and Spanish authorities hurriedly transferred them to the hospital for medical attention.
This was disclosed by Spain’s maritime safety and rescue society, Salvamento Marítimo’s website on Monday.
It revealed that the migrants sat on the rudder of the Alithini II oil tanker, the vessel which left Lagos, Nigeria, on 17th November, and arrived in Las Palmas on Monday.
Las Palmas is the capital of Gran Canaria, one of Spain’s Canary Islands situated off the northwest coast of Africa.
The islands have been a popular gateway for African migrants trying to get to Europe since they are just 100 kilometres west of Morocco at their closest location to the African continent.
Spanish data revealed migration by sea to the archipelago moved by 51% in the first five months of the year compared to 2021.
Despite being dangerous, it is not the first time stowaways have been found travelling on the rudder of commercial ships to the Canary Islands.
In Kenya’s Olkaria, on the edge of Hell’s Gate National Park, are five power plants that produce around 800MW of energy – that’s enough to power more than four million homes a year.
Last year, 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 also departed from Lagos.
In October 2020, another four people were found by police at Las Palmas after stowing away on the rudder of an oil tanker from Lagos for 10 days.
