The photo above, showing three immigrants sitting at the helm of a ship after an 11-day voyage, shocked the world.
Now, two days after being rescued off the coast of the Canary Islands, they have achieved their goal: to stay in Spain, at least for now.
The oil tanker Alithini II, on which they were secretly traveling, has finally received permission from the Spanish government to sail without them, the BBC’s Spanish news service BBC News Mundo has learned.
Initially, the government delegation in the Canary Islands had said that the three migrants would be taken back on board as soon as they recovered.
“There are three Nigerians of legal age. Three have applied for asylum and one is still in hospital,” the sub-government mission in Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria told BBC News Mundo.
“The ship can continue its course without them.”
The information was also confirmed to BBC News Mundo by the NGO Ca-minando Fronteras, who demanded that Spanish authorities prevent the return of the three fugitive Nigerians.
“The fact that they have gone through such a risky crossing should be considered as an indicator for an individual analysis of the personal circumstances of the three shipwrecked people,” the NGO warned on Tuesday that two of the migrants were being brought back to the ship. .fair.
The NGO also requested that they be placed in one of the immigration centres, “given the nature of the events and the potentially deadly dangerous transition, so that they can receive the necessary assistance to recover emotionally and psychologically”.
What is known about their travels?
How they got to the rudder blade of the tanker is still unknown. What is known is that three Nigerians boarded the ship in Lagos, Nigeria, before the Maltese-flagged Alithini II set sail on 17 November.
The trip to the island of Gran Canaria lasted 11 days without interruption.
On Monday, 28/11, they were rescued by the Spanish government’s Marine Rescue, after they were spotted at the bottom of the ship when they arrived in Las Palmas port.
Their location is an area outside the hull of the ship, the so-called rudder blade, in the open and vulnerable to the violence of the sea.
The photo that will travel the world was taken by the captain of Salvamar Nunki. [barco da guarda costeira], Orlando Ramos Alayón who saved them. It is common practice to document rescues, as explained by the Marine Rescue agency.
Image: Liberation from the Sea of Spain
“This is normal. If we’re successful, we’re taking these photos for safekeeping,” Orlando Ramos said in an official statement Wednesday.
“The other important job is to save the lives of those three people, to be able to transport the weak, weakened, hypothermic people. To make a maneuver that will not endanger their lives.”
How did they come?
“There were three men with sub-Saharan hypothermia and weakness. Two of the survivors were transferred to Doctor Negrín Hospital, the other to Insular Hospital, which is in worse condition,” Maritime Rescue told BBC News Mundo.
And according to them, what happens to the three of them from now on is the “authority of the state security forces and organs”.
“Marine Rescue has the mandate to assist people and transport them to port. Once ashore, health services and State Security forces and agencies begin to deal with the case,” they said.
Two of the Nigerians were soon discharged and even taken back to the ship, but were removed again after applying for asylum.
The third, meanwhile, is staying in the hospital where he is being treated for thirst, although his life is no longer in danger, according to authorities.
“In open sea conditions and a place with a high risk of dying from thirst, from falling into the water from the impact from the sea, from hypothermia, unsuitable for human shelter… The risk is maximum. And the compartment. Sofía Hernández, head of the Las Palmas Marine Rescue Coordination Center, EFE, who oversaw the rescue of these three people. “Actually, it’s very likely that this will happen,” he told the news agency.
Image: Liberation from the Sea of Spain
What will happen to them now?
The sub-government delegation in Las Palmas on the island of Gran Canaria reported that three Nigerians have applied for asylum in Spain.
Under Spanish law, stowaways are entitled to free legal aid and also to seek asylum, as soon as they express their intention to apply to enter Spanish territory.
How often do immigrants arrive disguised at the helm?
“Reaching the islands is not the usual procedure,” the Marine Rescue agency explains to BBC News Mundo.
So far, the agency responsible for the rescue has recorded five more similar cases in recent years.
In January 2018, Salvamar Nunki rescued four stowaways hiding in the rudder blade from the Green Sky ship.
In October 2020, four stowaways were found in the wheelhouse of the Norwegian oil tanker Champion Pula after traveling from Lagos to Las Palmas. That same month, Salvamar Nunki rescued seven stowaways from the helm of the Andromeda ship.
A month after this operation, in November, the same boat rescued a stowaway hidden in the rudder blade. Shortly after, also in November, he found four more immigrants hidden aboard Ocean Princess I.
The NGO Ca-minando Fronteras points out that the “Rota das Canárias” as it is known is the route that causes the most victims.
In the first six months of 2022, the NGO recorded 800 deaths on this route. And according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), 1,532 people died en route in 2021.
– This text was published at https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-63819364.
source: Noticias
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.