Three stowaways spend eleven days on oil tanker rudder before being rescued

Three migrants who stowed themselves away on the rudder of a tanker have been rescued.

The men were discovered on Alithini II, an oil and chemical tanker, when it arrived in Las Palmas on Monday (28 November).

They had been at sea for eleven days, having travelled from Lagos in Nigeria to Gran Canaria.

According to Sky News, the men’s arrival in Las Palmas was first reported on by Marine Traffic, a ship-tracking website.

The stowaways were rescued by the Spanish coastguard and taken to hospital where they were treated for moderate dehydration.

Three migrants who stowed themselves away on the rudder of a tanker have been rescued. Twitter/@salvamentogob

In a shocking image that’s been doing the internet rounds, the three men can be seen sitting on the ship’s rudder with their feet just inches from the water.

It’s not clear whether the men spent the entire journey on the boat’s rudder.

Spain’s Maritime Rescue tweeted on Monday: “This afternoon, the Salvamar Nunki rescued three stowaways located on the rudder blade of the ship Althini II, anchored in the docks of the port of Las Palmas and coming from Nigeria.

“They have been transferred to the port and treated by health services.”

After the men were found, Txema Santana, a journalist and migration adviser to the Canary Islands, tweeted: “It is not the first and it will not be the last. Stowaways do not always have the same luck.”

Here in the UK, around 24,000 people are detained in immigration centres every year, which is why a campaign was launched last month that offered a platform to migrants who have been detained on our shores.

Immigration detention is often kept out of sight and therefore out of the public’s mind, meaning that most people are unaware of what is happening behind those barbed wires and closed gates.

LADbible teamed up with Ben and Jerry’s and Detention Action and Allies for Justice to plaster billboards around London and Manchester that feature quotes from people who have been detained.

They were asked what the one thing they would say to the public if they could would be, and their answers were plastered around two of the UK’s biggest cities.

One person, who had been held for more than 1,280 days (over three and a half years), said: “I’ve been in England for 36 years. I have children and a family. Detention took everything from me.”

Another, who was held for 456 days, said: “Detention ruined my mental health, I was taken 200 miles away from my family.”