By Godwin Oritse with agency report

TWO Nigerian stowaways have been accosted and removed from a Mediterranean Shipping Company, MSC, ‘MSC Marta’  vessel after a six days trip from Lagos to Spain.

The Spanish Coast Guard and police in the Canary Islands found the two stowaways perched on the top of the rudder of an MSC containership arriving from Africa.

The two young men had been aboard the vessel for six days in a position where they were unable to stand up and had no shelter in an attempt to reach Europe.

The 72,000 Dead Weight (DWT) arrived in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on Monday, July 10, after a voyage of more than 2,700 nautical miles from West Africa.

The vessel docked after 10:00 p.m. local time at the container terminal on its normal route in which the Canary Islands are an interim stop between Africa and Europe.

In a routine inspection, Salvamento Maritimo reports its patrol boat Nunki spotted the two individuals lying atop the 901-foot containership’s rudder on feet above the water. They launched a zodiac boat and were able to retrieve the two individuals who turned out to be young men from Nigeria age 18 and 22. The local police were on the dock to take custody of the men.

Interviewing the two, they determined they had climbed aboard the rudder on July 2 while the containership was in Lagos, Nigeria. The ship first traveled more than 100 nautical miles to Lome, Togo, where it was handling containers on July 3 and 4. It then sailed the 2,500 nautical miles to the Canary Islands with the two men on the rudder in the open ocean for six days. 

They were taken to the hospital and spent the night being checked out. This morning they were released and taken back to the MSC containership which is responsible under Spanish law for the removal of the illegal migrants and returning them to their home country. 

The men could have asked for asylum in Spain which would have permitted them to remain in the Canary Islands, but reports are that they have family in Italy and were likely trying to get asylum when the ship reaches Italy. The MSC Marta departed today with the two men bound for the port of Gioia Tauro, Italy, but there was no word if the men would seek asylum or remain aboard till the vessel reaches Nigeria.