11 Nigerian Stowaways Rescued By Liberian Fishermen From Atlantic Ocean

11 Nigerians and one Cameroonian were rescued by Liberian fishermen from the Atlantic Ocean as their attempt to enter Europe failed.

According to the media, 13 Nigerians and 1 Cameroonian stowed away on OpheliaPanama a cargo vessel that was returning to Europe, from Lagos. Of the 13 Nigerians, two died due to injuries allegedly sustained when they were tortured by the ship’s crewmembers, and subsequently jump into the sea, reports said.

The survivors arrived aboard an ASKY Airline Flight No KP062 with the assistance of Liberian immigration officers.

The 11 Nigerian survivors Seyi Popoola, PreciousUwalogho, Ayetimiyi Kelvin, Stephen Junior, Emmanuel Benjamin, Balogun Gbenga, Temiotan Adewale, Igiebor Stephen, Hamza John, Alfred Ese, Ogechi Chika were in the 24 to 40 age group.

The stowaways were said to have entered the basement of a cargo ship named Ophelia Panama, at Tin Can Island Port in Apapa, Lagos on the 7th of September, believing the ship was heading for Europe.

Unfortunately, they ran out of food, and to avoid starving to death, they presented themselves to the crew of the ship who tortured them physically and sprayed them with chemicals before being thrown into the sea. While 2 of the 13 stowaways died in the process, the remaining sustained various degrees of injuries and were rescued by Liberian fishermen and handed to their Immigration service.

One of the returnees said: “We met each other on the ship. We are 14 with one Cameroonian. We moved from Nigerdock entering the vessel through the rudder side. When the ship was moving after four days, our food finished and so we wanted help from the crew.

Unfortunately, the crew started spraying us with chemicals, which burnt our skins while commanding us to jump into the high sea.”

Comptroller of Immigration Service, Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA) Command, CIS Adeola Adesokan, made arrangements for feeding the survivors and handed them over for documentation and profiling.

Adesokan said: “We discovered that they are bona fide Nigerians making efforts to run away from the shores of the country. Their story is very harrowing, very pitiable. There was hot water flushing before they were thrown into the high sea and left to their destinies,” she said.