Three African stowaways who were pictured perching on a ship’s rudder at the top of their 11-day journey from Nigeria to the Canary Islands are looking for asylum in Spain, officials said Wednesday.
Human rights group Walking Borders demanded the Madrid government intervene to forestall the boys from being returned to Nigeria and urged it to evaluate their cases individually.
The asylum-seekers’ identities and their motives for embarking on the perilous journey atop the rudder of the Maltese-flagged oil tanker Alithini II haven’t been made public.
“The conditions of the journey are already a sign that something very serious could also be behind it since the photos are incredible,” Walking Borders chief Helena Maleno told Reuters.
“We’ve got never seen conditions like this where they’ve arrived alive.”
“These people need to be in a state of shock. They need a few days to get well and from there they’ll explain what they were running from to have made that call,” Maleno added.
Based on Spanish law, unless stowaways seek asylum or are minors, a ship owner or agent is liable for returning them to their point of origin.
Two of the three men were initially returned to the Alithini II with the intention of deporting them, in keeping with the wire service. The third man was still in a hospital on Gran Canaria affected by hypothermia and dehydration, a neighborhood government official said.
Nevertheless, a spokesperson for the Spanish delegation within the Canaries said the ship was free to depart without the boys since that they had requested to remain.
Maleno insisted the boys must have been informed of their right to request political asylum and may have been questioned before being returned to the ship.
Walking Borders also urged authorities to put the boys into the federal government’s humanitarian program for migrants in order that they could get well from their ordeal.
The Spanish government’s representative on the Canary Islands didn’t immediately reply to a question on whether the migrants must have been informed of their rights
Officials said the boys were rescued by a coast guard vessel at about 7 p.m. local time Monday.
The Spanish-owned islands are a preferred but dangerous gateway for African migrants trying to achieve Europe.
Since 2014, 2,976 migrants have died or disappeared after attempting to cross from Africa to the archipelago by sea, in keeping with the International Organization for Migration.
The Alithini II, which left Lagos on Nov. 17, covered some 2,000 miles during its journey to the islands off northwest Africa, in keeping with tracking website Marine Traffic.
The tanker is owned by Gardenia Shiptrade SA and is managed by Athens-based Astra Ship Management, the outlet reported, citing the shipping database Equasis.
Astra Ship Management didn’t reply to calls from Reuters looking for comment.
With Post Wires
Three African stowaways who were pictured perching on a ship’s rudder at the top of their 11-day journey from Nigeria to the Canary Islands are looking for asylum in Spain, officials said Wednesday.
Human rights group Walking Borders demanded the Madrid government intervene to forestall the boys from being returned to Nigeria and urged it to evaluate their cases individually.
The asylum-seekers’ identities and their motives for embarking on the perilous journey atop the rudder of the Maltese-flagged oil tanker Alithini II haven’t been made public.
“The conditions of the journey are already a sign that something very serious could also be behind it since the photos are incredible,” Walking Borders chief Helena Maleno told Reuters.
“We’ve got never seen conditions like this where they’ve arrived alive.”
“These people need to be in a state of shock. They need a few days to get well and from there they’ll explain what they were running from to have made that call,” Maleno added.
Based on Spanish law, unless stowaways seek asylum or are minors, a ship owner or agent is liable for returning them to their point of origin.
Two of the three men were initially returned to the Alithini II with the intention of deporting them, in keeping with the wire service. The third man was still in a hospital on Gran Canaria affected by hypothermia and dehydration, a neighborhood government official said.
Nevertheless, a spokesperson for the Spanish delegation within the Canaries said the ship was free to depart without the boys since that they had requested to remain.
Maleno insisted the boys must have been informed of their right to request political asylum and may have been questioned before being returned to the ship.
Walking Borders also urged authorities to put the boys into the federal government’s humanitarian program for migrants in order that they could get well from their ordeal.
The Spanish government’s representative on the Canary Islands didn’t immediately reply to a question on whether the migrants must have been informed of their rights
Officials said the boys were rescued by a coast guard vessel at about 7 p.m. local time Monday.
The Spanish-owned islands are a preferred but dangerous gateway for African migrants trying to achieve Europe.
Since 2014, 2,976 migrants have died or disappeared after attempting to cross from Africa to the archipelago by sea, in keeping with the International Organization for Migration.
The Alithini II, which left Lagos on Nov. 17, covered some 2,000 miles during its journey to the islands off northwest Africa, in keeping with tracking website Marine Traffic.
The tanker is owned by Gardenia Shiptrade SA and is managed by Athens-based Astra Ship Management, the outlet reported, citing the shipping database Equasis.
Astra Ship Management didn’t reply to calls from Reuters looking for comment.
With Post Wires
