MEN SURVIVE ON A RUDDER OF SHIP TRAVELING FROM NIGERIA TO THE CANARY ISLANDS FOR 11 DAYS

Three men who stowed away on a tanker that landed in the Canary Islands from Nigeria by balancing on its rudder just above the waterline have been rescued by the Spanish coastguard.

The men were brought into the harbor where they received treatment for cold and dehydration, according to a tweet from the coast guard.

Txema Santana, a journalist and migration adviser to the Canary Islands government, tweeted: "It is not the first and it will not be the last. Stowaways do not always have the same luck."

Risky crossings to the Canaries from north Africa have sharply increased since late 2019 as a result of tighter controls on Mediterranean routes.

Four individuals hid on the rudder of an oil tanker leaving Lagos in October 2020 for ten days before being found by authorities when the ship approached Las Palmas.

According to Spanish data, sea migration to the archipelago increased 51% in the first five months of 2018 compared to the same period last year.

The journey, which is made more dangerous by the use of flimsy wooden or inflatable boats, claims thousands of lives every year.