Alex Trelinski
THREE stowaways risked their lives by travelling on the rudder of an oil tanker that docked in the Canary Islands after an 11-day trip from Nigeria.
The Salvamento Maritimo rescued the men after spotting them on the rudder of the Alithini II oil tanker that was sailing into Las Palmas on Monday.
Unsurprisingly the trio all showed signs of dehydration and hypothermia, and were taken to hospital.
The tanker left Lagos on November 17 for its 2,700 nautical mile journey and its yet to be confirmed whether the men spent the entire trip on the rudder.
It’s not the first incident of stowaways travelling on ship rudders to the Canaries.
Last year a 14-year-old Nigerian boy survived a fortnight on a rudder after departing from Lagos.
Also in 2022, four men were found on the rudder of a Norwegian oil tanker on the same route, though the group hid in a room behind the rudder for 10 days.
READ MORE:
- Four stowaways ride on an oil tanker’s rudder for 10 days in bid to reach Spain from Nigeria
- Canary Islands report more than a thousand migrant deaths in year so far
