When the Maltese-flagged tanker Alithini II pulled into Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on November 28, 2022, port crews found a photograph that shocked the public: three men crouched high on the vessel’s rudder blade, feet dangling just above the Atlantic, having apparently spent 11 days there after the ship left Lagos, Nigeria. The survivors — later identified as Nigerians — were weak, dehydrated and showing signs of hypothermia but alive, a rare and extreme testament to human endurance and the lengths people will go to reach what they hope is a safer or better life.
The basic facts are stark. According to ship-tracking records and statements from Spain’s maritime rescue service, the Alithini II departed Lagos on November 17 and arrived in Las Palmas on November 28; the three men were discovered clinging to the rudder when the tanker docked. Images distributed by Salvamento MarÃtimo (Spain’s Maritime Safety and Rescue Society) showed the men low on the stern under the hull, the tiny metal rudder blade their only shelter from open ocean conditions. They were taken to local hospitals for treatment.
Why the rudder? For people desperate to reach Europe, traditional routes across the Mediterranean have become more tightly policed and riskier. That has pushed some migrants and asylum-seekers toward increasingly inventive and dangerous methods: stowing away in cargo holds, hiding inside ship structures, or — as in this case — balancing on external parts of a vessel where they are harder to detect during loading. Observers say this pattern rose as tighter enforcement on common Mediterranean crossings displaced flows toward Atlantic routes reaching the Canary Islands.
The humanitarian and legal fallout is complicated. Spanish authorities initially provided medical care, but Reuters and others reported that under stowaway and migration regulations the men were at risk of being returned to the ship and deported rather than offered long-term asylum — a legal path that can be slow and uncertain. Migrant rights groups warned that people arriving by such extraordinary means may have credible protection claims, especially if they fled violence or persecution, and urged authorities to assess each case humanely rather than treat every stowaway as an illegal arrival to be expelled.
This incident is not an isolated anomaly. In recent years similar cases — including minors and groups found on rudders or tucked into ship equipment — have appeared in Spanish ports, illustrating both the persistence of smuggling networks and the lethal calculus migrants face. Maritime safety experts point out the physical dangers: exposure to cold Atlantic nights, the impossibility of getting food or safe drinking water, the risk of crushing during heavy weather or under a quay, and the constant danger of being swept into the sea. Medical teams treating these survivors consistently report dehydration, hypothermia and trauma from prolonged immobility.
Beyond the immediate rescue, the case raises policy questions for source countries like Nigeria and destination states in Europe. Economic hardship, insecurity, and the lure of perceived opportunities in Europe continue to drive migration. But experts say solutions demand coordinated responses: safer legal pathways, stronger anti-smuggling enforcement that targets criminal networks (not just migrants), better port inspection protocols, and scaled humanitarian reception to evaluate protection claims quickly and fairly. NGOs pressed Spanish authorities to consider the backgrounds and asylum claims of the three men before moving to deportation under stowaway rules.
For many observers, the image of three figures huddled on a rudder is a stark visual shorthand for the modern migration predicament: people pushed by poverty, insecurity or persecution, and pulled by the hope that crossing one ocean will lead to safety or opportunity. It is also a reminder that migration policy made without humanitarian safeguards and legal alternatives tends to catalyze riskier behavior — a cycle that leaves human lives exposed to the sea and to legal limbo.
What to watch next
Whether Spanish authorities pursue deportation under stowaway laws or open asylum procedures in the specific cases.
Any statements from Nigeria or international organizations about joint efforts to curb dangerous maritime departures.
Broader trends in Atlantic migration to the Canary Islands and whether port inspection protocols change in response.
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