Two stowaways once again achieved the feat of reaching the port of Las Palmas alive after five days of voyages on the rudder blade of a ship. On this occasion, the boys, aged 19 and 22 and from Ivory Coast, arrived in good health thanks to the fact that they had managed to hide in the small hole with food and water for the trip, according to sources close to them.
The young people managed to climb last Monday to the horn of the blade, which is located a few meters above sea level, in the port of Abidjan (Ivory Coast) of the container ship MSC Shaula, which has the Liberian flag. They hid in the small hole and managed to get out of the port without being seen. It is unknown if they accessed the ship by themselves or were helped by some of the mafias that are dedicated to human trafficking. The good state of the sea these days has contributed to their arrival safe and sound. A tidal wave could have thrown them into the water but fortunately it did not happen.
It was the pilots from the port of Las Palmas who raised the alarm when they saw the boys on the blade at the moment they were going to the ship to carry out the work of driving and entering the dock. On the way, the Salvamar Nunki was activated, which took them on board and disembarked them at the Cristóbal Colón dock. The National Police took charge of them and two ambulances from the Canary Islands Emergency Service (SUC) were activated, but their intervention was not necessary due to the good health of the boys.
The story of these two Ivorian boys has a happy ending because they are still alive but the pity is that they will not be able to stay in Spain. Early tomorrow morning, around 8 o’clock, the ship MSC Shaula will leave the port of Las Palmas for Italy, her final destination. From there the young people will be repatriated to their country, the Ivory Coast, as established by international regulations for stowaways.
Today, after their statement was taken by the National Police, they were returned to the ship in which they arrived in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. In their cabins they have spent the whole afternoon and with private surveillance to prevent them from escaping. The owner bears all the expenses.
It is not the first time that stowaways arrive at the port of Las Palmas hiding in the tiny hole that exists in the horn of the rudder and that helps the ship to take one direction or another depending on the orders given from the command bridge.
The last time people were located in this place at the entrance of the ship in Las Palmas was in November of last year. So there were three boys, of Nigerian origin, who tried the adventure and managed to get there alive.
In that case, the boys arrived in a delicate state of health and had to be treated and admitted to hospitals in the capital of Gran Canaria. Their image on the rudder blade went around the world and led Pope Francis to take an interest in them.
Those three young people made requests for asylum and managed to prove that they came from conflict zones and that their lives were in danger in their country if they returned. The three are still in Spain today, two of them are on the peninsula and the third is still in the capital of Gran Canaria where he is learning Spanish and training to start a new life.
Since the beginning of the month of June, the Canary Islands have been experiencing an upturn in migration that the Government Delegation blames on the good state of the sea. So far this year more than 6,000 people have arrived on the islands, which is 30% less than in the same period of 2022, but only in the first half of June have 25% of all arrivals of the year been concentrated.
