Nigerian Stowaways Found On Ship's Rudder Seek Asylum In Spain

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.

The three men were picked up from the rudder of the Alithini II ship by Spain's Maritime Rescue Service on Monday and taken to two hospitals on the island of Gran Canaria with symptoms of dehydration and hypothermia.

According to Spanish authorities, one of them is still in the hospital, while the other two have been released.

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 - under Spanish law.

The ship is free to leave port now that they are seeking asylum.

The identities of the asylum seekers, as well as their reasons for fleeing Nigeria and hiding on the ship's rudder, have not been revealed.

Walking Borders, a human rights organization, issued a statement earlier on Wednesday demanding that the Spanish government halt their potential return to Nigeria and that their cases be evaluated individually.

The statement was issued in response to reports from Spanish authorities that two of the men had been returned to the vessel for a possible return.

They should be placed in the government's humanitarian program for migrants, according to the non-governmental organization, so they can recover from their journey and possibly seek asylum.

The three men were sitting precariously on top of the rudder, their feet only a few centimetres (inches) from the water's surface under the ship's massive hull, according to a touching photo shared by Spain's Maritime Rescue Service this week.

The Malta-flagged vessel left Lagos, Nigeria on November 17 and arrived in Las Palmas on Monday.

The distance between the ports is roughly 4,600 kilometres (2,800 miles).