The Spanish Maritime Rescue Service has rescued three stowaways in the Canary Islands who were traveling at the helm of a ship that had sailed from Nigeria, according to the agency.
The men, who were sighted on the Alithini II oil tanker in the Spanish port of Las Palmas, were showing symptoms of dehydration and hypothermia and were taken to hospitals on the island for medical attention, Salvamento Marítimo said.
The Maltese-flagged ship left Lagos, Nigeria, on November 17 and arrived in Las Palmas on Monday, according to ship monitoring website MarineTraffic.
Although it is extremely dangerous, it is not the first time that stowaways have been found at the helm of a commercial ship bound for the Canary Islands. Last year, a 14-year-old Nigerian boy was interviewed by the Spanish newspaper El País after surviving two weeks at the helm of a ship. He had also set sail from Lagos.
