TheCable

The Spanish coastguard says it has rescued three migrants that stowed away on the rudder of a ship that arrived in the Canary Islands from Nigeria.

According to NAN, the Spanish coastguard made this known on Twitter on Monday.

The tweet included a photograph of the three stowaways shown perched on the rudder of Althini II, an oil and chemical ship.

The Althini II was said to have arrived in Las Palmas in Gran Canaria on Monday after an 11-day voyage from Lagos, Nigeria.

Upon discovering them, the stowaways were immediately taken to the hospital and treated for acute dehydration.

It remains unclear if the men spent the entire journey perched on the rudder.

The Spanish-owned Canary Islands are a popular gateway for African migrants attempting to reach Europe.

According to Spanish data, migration by sea to the archipelago jumped 51% in the first five months of the year compared to a year earlier.

The incident comes barely a week after the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) claimed that at least 50,000 migrants died while journeying in search of a “better life” across the world since 2014.

The IOM report listed Africans as the highest casualties with more than 9,000 deaths recorded along dangerous routes like the Sahara and the Mediterranian sea.