The Spanish Coast Guard rescued three refugees who had been at the helm of a boat from Nigeria to the Canary Islands for eleven days. The three men can be seen at the helm of the oil and chemical tanker Alethyni 2 in a photo the Coast Guard posted to Twitter.
The coast guard said the fugitives had been taken to the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and were being treated by health services for dehydration and hypothermia. According to ship-tracking website MarineTraffic, the Maltese-flagged vessel left Lagos on November 17 and arrived in Las Palmas yesterday.
Although extremely dangerous, this is not the first time stowaways have been seen at the helm of merchant ships bound for the Canary Islands. Last year, the Spanish newspaper El Pais interviewed a 14-year-old Nigerian after he survived two weeks at the helm of a ship. He had also departed from Lagos.
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