On a perilous journey that took 15 days

A Nigerian minor sneaks inside an oil tanker in an attempt to reach Spain

• Migrants from Africa arrive in the Canary Islands in Spain.

  EPA

• A group of migrants sits on top of a Norwegian oil tanker.

  From the source

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In the early hours of one morning, Prince, a pseudonym for a 14-year-old Nigerian teenager, heard (he requested that his real name not be used);

Three men in Lagos city talk about their intention to board a giant oil tanker to reach Spain, then watch them go to the port and use a boat to reach the ship, then climb a small ladder that leads to a small compartment at the stern located above the rudder.

Prince didn't think twice, he did the same, jumped into the water and climbed the ladder to the rudder.

Prince found himself on board the tanker called "Ocean Prince 1", which he chose as a pseudonym, and which is 183 meters in length, and is carrying up to 50 thousand tons of fuel.

He thought the journey would take a few hours, maybe a day, but instead took 15 days, stopping at the port of Lomé, the capital of Togo in West Africa, and then arriving at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the Spanish Canary Islands.

The space Prince and some of the intruders were sitting on was small, two by two meters above the rudder, and they could only sleep in turns, and a tidal wave or a moment of neglect could lead to their certain death in the ocean.

"It was very cold, and I was very afraid, and I thought I would die at any moment," Prince recalls in a video call from a palace quarantine center.

After 10 days of the flight, they are in a desperate situation.

These teenagers were seriously considering throwing themselves in the sea and swimming, Prince says, even though there was nowhere to go. "We had a hammer and we were hitting the hull of the ship for the crew to hear us, and it seems they definitely heard us, but none of them responds."

"On a ship like this loud, nobody will hear you if you scream, and hitting the hull plate is the only way to get the crew's attention," said Manuel Rodriguez, police chief in the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where Prince and his companions were landed.

"The captain himself was the one who informed the port after hearing the squash," he adds.

The teenage immigrants were disembarked in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where large cargo ships stop on their journey from the African coast to northern Europe, which always carry stowaways, but this way of reaching the Canary Islands, which usually resembles fairy tales, has become very popular. Increasing in the year 2020, and the number of stowaways is usually not high, especially when compared to the 20,000 immigrants who arrived in the archipelago on small boats this year.

"They usually board when the ships are empty, because the hull is not submerged in much water," said Roberto Bastaric, head of the Rescue Coordination Center in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Most of those rescued were young Nigerians who hid in fuel tankers flying the flags of Liberia, Greece or even the Marshall Islands.

Prince is the first minor to be saved.

The same reason why migrants choose to undertake such a dangerous journey is that they attempt to cross the perilous sea in overcrowded boats to the Canary Islands;

Despair and all kinds of oppression.

Captains and shipowners have strengthened measures to prevent stealth travelers from boarding their ships.

When migrants reach certain ports, such as Lagos or the Guinean capital, Conakry, they are forced to look for other means, and usually board the ship the moment it sets sail.

The surreptitious travelers are subject to different regulations from the unregistered migrants who arrive by boat, and after they are rescued the surreptitious passengers are responsible for the shoulders of the ship's captain, who must inform any port en route that he has stowaways on board his ship, in which case the shipping company bears the cost of food The immigrant, his residency, and the needs of the interpreter, and you must assume the responsibility for his return to his country of origin.

As in the case of Prince, the police can order the ship to surrender the passengers surreptitiously so that they can remain in port, if they believe they would be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment on board.

Praised by the care workers at the Juvenile Center, Prince appears more mature than other boys his age.

He says he finished high school in Lagos but his family was unable to pay for him to continue studying, and that he wanted to live a better life.

Prince left his home without telling his mother or older sister caring for him and his two younger brothers, because they would have prevented him if he had told them.

On the first day he was rescued he ate properly, slept and felt victorious, already planning what he would do next, and wishing to become a lawyer.

• The reason why migrants choose to make such a dangerous journey is despair, and all kinds of oppression.

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