Shocking | Migrants reach Canary Islands from Nigeria by balancing on ship’s rudder

Three migrants who had stowed away aboard a tanker while balancing on its rudder were rescued by the Spanish coastguard. The migrants have traveled from Nigeria to the canary Island when the tanker arrived there. In a photo posted on Twitter by the coast guard on Monday, the three illegal migrants were seen to be sitting on the rudder which was just above the water surface, of the oil and chemical tanker Alithini II.  

As reported by the ship monitoring website Marine Traffic, the Maltese-flagged Alithini II docked at Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, on Monday afternoon following an 11-day cruise from Lagos, Nigeria, The Guardian reported. The migrants were brought into the port where they received treatment for cold and dehydration, according to a tweet from the coast guard. 

Furthermore, the Canary Islands government's migration adviser and journalist, Txema Santana, stated in a tweet, "It is not the first and it will not be the last. Stowaways do not always have the same luck.” 

Migrants are arriving in the Canaries following a risky voyage from north Africa

Even after having tighter controls on Mediterranean routes, the number of migrants arriving in the Canaries following a risky voyage from north Africa has drastically increased since late 2019. It is pertinent to mention that four individuals remained hidden on the rudder of an oil tanker from Lagos in October 2020 for ten days before being found by authorities when the ship approached Las Palmas. 

According to Spanish data, maritime migration to the archipelago increased by 51% in the first five months of 2020 compared to the last year. 

Meanwhile, in November 2021, over 400 migrants and asylum seekers were saved and brought to the Canary Islands as they tried to sail from West Africa to the Atlantic Ocean archipelago in overcrowded and dangerous smuggling boats. According to media reports, by sailing boats from Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, as well as the Gambia, migrants have been reported increasingly adopting the Atlantic route to go from West Africa to the Canary Islands. More than 18,000 people already traveled this path in 2021 to get to the Canary Islands. 

(Image: Twitter/ @salvamentogob)