These three Nigerian men stowed away on a tanker ship that arrived in the Canary Islands yesterday from Lagos, Nigeria through the Atlantic Ocean. They did this by balancing on the ship's rudder just above the waterline for 11 days.
Three men who stowed away on a tanker coming from Nigeria to the Canary Islands by standing on the rudder just above the waterline were saved by the Spanish coastguard.
The coastguard posted a picture of the three stowaways on the rudder of the oil and chemical tanker Alithini II on Twitter on Monday.
A website that tracks ships says that the Maltese-flagged Alithini II arrived in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, on Monday afternoon after an 11-day trip from Lagos, Nigeria.
The coastguard said on Twitter that the men were taken to the port where they were treated for dehydration and being too cold.
Txema Santana, a journalist and migration adviser for the government of the Canary Islands, tweeted, "It's not the first time and it won't be the last. Not every stowaway has the same luck."
"I'd never seen a boat come in with so many bodies," a migrant worker said.
Since late 2019, when checks on routes through the Mediterranean were tightened, there have been a lot more dangerous crossings from north Africa to the Canaries.
In October 2020, four people hid for 10 days on the rudder of an oil tanker from Lagos before police found them when the ship arrived in Las Palmas.
The number of people who came to the archipelago by boat went up 51% in the first five months of the year compared to the same time last year.
Every year, thousands of people die on the journey, which is getting more dangerous as rickety wooden or inflatable boats are used.