The Spanish Coast Guard rescued three stowaways who were hiding in a tanker arriving in the Canary Islands from Nigeria.
The three found a unique and extremely dangerous way to hide during the 11 days of the journey.
In a photo shared on Twitter by the Coast Guard on Monday, the three passengers are seen hanging from the hull of the oil tanker Altheni II.
The Maltese-flagged tanker arrived in Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria yesterday afternoon after an 11-day voyage from Lagos in Niger, according to Marine Traffic, a website that monitors ship traffic.
The three men were taken to port and received medical treatment for dehydration and hypothermia, according to the Coast Guard.
Sama Smetana, a journalist in the Canary Islands, tweeted "This is not the first time nor the last. Not all the hidden passengers are so lucky."
The volume of sea voyages from North Africa to the Canary Islands has increased dramatically since 2019, when checks and controls on Mediterranean shipping lanes were tightened.
In October 2020, four undercover passengers on an oil tanker from Lagos hid for ten days before being discovered by police when they arrived in Las Palmas.
Migration by sea jumped 51% in the first five months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to Spanish government data.
Thousands of refugees die every year on the dangerous journey made on inflatable rubber boats or rickety wooden rafts.
news
world news
Europe
Tags
refugees from Africa
immigrants
Spain
Africa
