Migrants travel from Nigeria to Canary Islands balanced on ship’s rudder |

The Spanish coastguard has rescued three migrants who stowed away on a tanker that arrived in the Canary Islands from Nigeria by balancing on its rudder just above the waterline.

In a photograph distributed on Twitter by the coastguard on Monday, the three stowaways are shown perched on the rudder of the oil and chemical tanker Alithini II.

The Alithini II arrived in Las Palmas in Gran Canaria on Monday after an 11-day voyage from Lagos in Nigeria, according to Marine Traffic, a ship-tracking website.

The migrants were taken into the port and attended to by health services, the coastguard said on Twitter.

Arrivals of migrants in the Canaries, after a perilous crossing from north Africa, have increased dramatically since late 2019 after checks on Mediterranean routes were tightened.

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

Thousands of people die each year on the voyage, which is increasingly perilous by the use of rickety wooden or inflatable boats.