The Brazilian authorities have confirmed that four stowaway were discovered and rescued by crew members off the southeast coast of Brazil, after being concealed or 13 days in a compartment on top of the rudder of a Liberia-flagged ship that sailed from Lagos, Nigeria.
According to the Brazilian federal police the stowaways were safely retrieved on Tuesday from a ship that left Lagos on June 27. The four men, who claimed to be Nigerians, were found to be in good health and well-fed, but lacked documentation to confirm their nationality.
A police official told AFP, “The men rescued claim to be Nigerians, but they did not carry any documents confirming their origin.”
Meanwhile, in spain, the coastguard successfully rescued two Nigerian stowaways from the rudder of a ship arriving in the Canary Islands from Togo.
The migrants were found and brought to safety on Monday night in the port of Las Palmas and were immediately taken to a hospital for evaluation.
The Guardia Civil police confirmed that the migrants were 19 and 22 years old.
After being released, they were transferred back to the ship responsible for their return to Togo.
The port police tweeted, “The migrants were taken to a hospital. They were later released and were transferred back to the ship, which has to return them to their port of origin.”
Visual evidence shared by the Las Palmas maritime police on Twitter portrayed the precarious situation in which the two stowaways were found.
The ship, which had departed from Lagos, Nigeria, on July 2, made a stop in Togo on July 4, indicating that the migrants had remained onboard for at least seven days.
The Spanish law states that stowaways who do not seek asylum must be returned by the ship’s operator to the port of origin.
Alleluia is the Assistant Editor and Content Writer at LagosPost.ng. She is a prolific writer and editor, she has written features and news stories on Lifestyle, Sports, Business, Politics and B2B marketing. She is also an event coordinator, host and social media content creator.
