Reuters
Madrid, November 30
Three migrants who arrived to the Canary Islands from Nigeria after enduring 11 days on a tanker rudder have asked for asylum in Spain, local authorities said on Wednesday.
The three Nigerian men were hospitalized upon reaching the port of Las Palmas on Gran Canaria on Monday night, where they were spotted by coastguards.
Two of the three had been returned to the vessel for deportation on Tuesday but on Wednesday a local spokesperson for the Spanish government said all three had asked for asylum.
In a photograph on Twitter by the Spanish coast guard on Monday, the three stowaways are shown hunkered on the rudder under the hull, just above the waterline of the Alithini II.
The 183-metre ship, sailing under a Maltese flag, arrived in Las Palmas in Gran Canaria after setting out from Lagos in Nigeria on November 17 and navigating up the West African coast, according to Marine Traffic.
The ship’s captain confirmed to the Red Cross that it had sailed from Nigeria 11 days earlier.
The coast guard said the migrants were rescued by a coast guard vessel at about 7 pm local time (1900 GMT) on Monday.
The stowaways were treated for moderate dehydration and hypothermia, the Canary Islands emergency services and the Red Cross said. The third migrant, who was in a more serious state, had to be taken to a different hospital on the island.
The Spanish-owned Canary Islands are a popular but dangerous gateway for African migrants attempting to reach Europe. Since 2014, 2,976 migrants have died or are missing after attempting to cross from Africa to the archipelago by sea, according to the International Organization for Migration.
