A human rights organization asked the Spanish government on Wednesday to halt the potential return to Nigeria of three men found traveling on an oil tanker's rudder after an 11-day ocean voyage from Lagos, Nigeria to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.
The stowaways of Nigerian nationality were picked up Monday by Spain's Maritime Rescue Service from the rudder of the Alithini II ship and transferred to two hospitals on the island of Gran Canaria with symptoms of dehydration and hypothermia. One of them remains hospitalized while the other two have been returned to the Malta-flagged vessel, a spokesperson for the Spanish government delegation in the Canary Islands told the Associated Press.
