The three Nigerian stowaways found on an oil tanker’s rudder after an 11-day ocean voyage from Lagos, Nigeria to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands are seeking asylum in Spain, a spokesperson for the Spanish government delegation in the Canaries said on Wednesday (Thursday NZ time).
The three men were picked up on Monday (Tuesday NZ time) by Spain’s Maritime Rescue Service from the rudder of the tanker Alithini II and transferred to two hospitals on the island of Gran Canaria with symptoms of dehydration and hypothermia. One of them remained hospitalised while the other two had been released, Spanish authorities said.
According to Spanish law, unless the stowaways seek asylum, or are minors, the ship owner or agent is responsible for returning them to their point of departure - in this case, Lagos. Given that they are now seeking asylum, the ship is free to leave port again.
The asylum seekers’ identities and their motives for leaving Nigeria and hiding on the ship’s rudder haven’t been made public.
Earlier on Wednesday (Thursday NZ time), the human rights organization Walking Borders issued a statement demanding the Spanish government halt their potential return to Nigeria and calling for their cases to be assessed individually. The statement was issued following reports by Spanish authorities that two of the men were returned to the vessel for a potential return trip.
