The migrants traveled hidden on the rudder blade of an oil tanker that arrived in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on Monday and the police indicate that they must be returned to their country
For eleven days, three Nigerians risked their lives in the open, sitting on the rudder blade of an oil tanker in which they traveled hidden to realize their dream of reaching Europe. The ship, flying the Maltese flag and named ‘Alithini II’, had set sail from Lagos, the capital of the North African country, on November 17, not suspecting that stowaways crouched in that small hole just above the waterline, exposed to every blow from the sea and with their feet barely two feet from the water.
The painful journey across the Atlantic came to an end around 7pm local time on Monday when the three migrants were rescued by a coastguard vessel as the tanker anchored near the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The 112 emergency service explained on Twitter that those affected had “moderate dehydration and required hospital care”. Maritime Rescue added that the sub-Saharan Africans, who were all of legal age, were “tired, showing symptoms of hypothermia and requiring treatment by the health services”.
At the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria sports dock, the Nigerians received first aid from the local emergency services and members of the Red Cross as soon as they were rescued by Salvamar Nunki. However, due to their fragile condition, two of them were referred to the Doctor Negrín Hospital and the third, who was in a more serious condition, had to be taken to the Insular Hospital, according to the government delegation.
The shocking photo released on Twitter by Maritime Rescue, showing the three migrants on the helm of the oil tanker, clearly reflected the vulnerability of migrants during the long and risky journey they undertook. Txema Santana, migration adviser to the Canary Islands government, stressed to Euronews that this is not the first time that Spanish authorities have discovered stowaways hiding in dangerous places on a ship in the port of Las Palmas. The latest precedent occurred in November 2020, in the rudder blade of the oil tanker ‘Ocean Princess II’, and a month earlier on board the ‘Champion Pula’. Both ships had left Nigeria.
In the case of the ‘Ocean Princess II’, the discovery of a 14-year-old boy hidden for 15 days in the same hole as the three sub-Saharan Africans from Lagos to Las Palmas was particularly controversial. “We only saw water. I was already very weak, hungry and going crazy. All I could think of was a good bowl of rice. It was the first time I drank salt water,” he told El País newspaper in an interview.
A spokesman for the Canary Islands Police clarified this Tuesday that it is up to the ship operator to take care of the stowaways, provide them with temporary shelter and return them to their origins as quickly as possible. The decision is based on current regulations, according to which only agents can order the disembarkation of irregular travelers and allow them to remain on land if they are considered to be subject to inhuman or degrading treatment on board or if they are vulnerable groups as asylum seeker, minor or seriously ill.
‘Alithini II’, a 183-meter vessel built in 2008, is owned by Gardenia Shiptrade SA but managed by Athens-based Astra Ship Management. While the said company has opted not to comment on what happened, it emerged on Tuesday that two of the Nigerians have been unloaded and are waiting in the ship to be returned to their native countries as soon as they can be identified by the appropriate authorities.
However, Helena Maleno, director of the NGO Walking Borders, which specializes in migration issues, clarified that stowaways can remain in Spain if they apply for asylum. “On several previous occasions, if they chose this route, they could do this,” he told Reuters.
The Canary Islands are a common gateway for African immigrants trying to reach Europe. However, the number of people who arrived in the archipelago illegally by sea fell to 14,875 in the first ten months of 2022, 17.6% less than the year before, the interior ministry said.
Source: La Verdad
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