‘INCREDIBLE’

Nigerian Stowaways Survive 11-Day Journey to Canary Islands on Ship’s Rudder

The three men were hospitalized for symptoms of dehydration and hypothermia after being rescued by Spanish authorities in the Canary Islands.

Three men who snuck onto an oil tanker’s rudder as it departed Nigeria for the Canary Islands were found alive after the 2,800-mile journey—though they appeared worse for wear after suffering from dehydration and hypothermia, according to Spanish officials. The trio, all Nigerian, were hospitalized after being retrieved from the 183-meter Alithini II on Monday. Two of the three stowaways were later returned to the ship to be deported, a local government spokesperson told Reuters on Tuesday, while the third remained under medical care. Spanish law dictates that migrants who do not seek political asylum must be returned to the port they departed from by the ship’s operator, the agency reported. Helena Maleno, the director of the non-governmental organization Walking Borders, questioned whether the men had been informed of their right to ask for asylum, and said that they should have been given “a couple of days” to recover from their 11-day ordeal and be questioned. “The conditions of the journey are already an indication that something very serious may be behind it because the photos are incredible,” she told Reuters. “We have never seen conditions like this where they have arrived alive.”