Three migrants traveled on the rudder blade of a ship to reach Spain

A photo shared on Tuesday shows three men who survived an 11-day voyage from Nigeria to Spain sitting at the wheel of a large oil tanker.

The image was released by Spain’s Maritime Rescue, which helped the three men after they arrived at the port of Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria.

The rescue, as reported by Salvamento and the EFE agency, took place after the three migrants -of African origin- were seen in the lower part of the ship.

They were traveling on the Maltese-flagged oil tanker called “Alithini II”, which left the port of Lagos, in Nigeria, on November 17, according to what was indicated by the rescue agency.

The place where they were found is a space located in the so-called rudder blade, outside the ship’s hull, where they are out in the open and vulnerable to any blow from the sea.

The migrants were taken to health centers on the island where it was noted that, despite the conditions of their trip, they were dehydrated, but in general in good health.

The authorities indicated that it is not the first time that migrants have been detected using this area of ​​the ship to travel. In November 2020, three other people were found in the rudder blade of the Ocean Princess II ship.

One of them, a 14-year-old boy, told the newspaper El País how he had survived the trip by drinking salt water and that they had taken turns sleeping in a hole above the rudder with the other men he was traveling with.

“We were very weak. I never imagined it could be so difficult,” he said.

In another incident the same year, four men were found at the helm of the Norwegian oil tanker Champion Pula, after having traveled from Lagos to Las Palmas.

Reports at the time said the men hid in a room behind the helm during their 10 days at sea.

The number of migrants crossing by boat from West Africa to the Canary Islands has increased significantly in recent years.

The journeys are long, dangerous and deadly. In 2021, the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) recorded 1,532 deaths on the route.

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