Four Nigerians men who adapt a dangerous way to travel spent 14 days in a small space above the rudder of a cargo ship has been rescued by Brazilian police.

A report by Reuter on Tuesday revealed that the stowaways journey across some 5,600 kilometres (3,500 miles) of ocean.

On how they prevent themselves from failing into the water, the stowaways said they rigged up a net around the rudder and tied themselves to it with a rope, adding that they could see “big fish like whales and sharks when they looked down.”

The men said they had hoped to reach Europe and were shocked to learn they had landed in Brazil.

A 38-year-old pastor from Lagos, ThankGod Opemipo Matthew Yeye in an interview said his peanut and palm oil farm was destroyed by floods this year, leaving him and his family homeless. He had hoped they could now join him in Brazil.

Another migration said his journey to Brazil started on 27 June, when a fisherman friend rowed him up to the stern of the Liberian-flagged Ken Wave, docked in Lagos, and left him by the rudder.

“He found three men already there, waiting for the ship to depart.  He had never met his new shipmates and feared they could toss him into the sea at any moment.

“Once the ship was moving, Friday said the four men made every effort not to be discovered by the ship’s crew, who they also worried might offer them a watery grave.

“Maybe if they catch you, they will throw you in the water,” he said, adding: “So we taught ourselves never to make noise.

It was a terrible experience for me, On board, it is not easy. I was shaking, so scared. But I’m here.”

Yeye also described it as a terrible experience, the report said: 

According to Reuter report, “On their tenth day at sea, the four Nigerian stowaways crossing the Atlantic in a tiny space above the rudder of a cargo ship ran out of food and drink.

“They survived another four days, according to their account, by drinking the sea water crashing just metres below them, before being rescued by Brazilian federal police in the southeastern port of Vitoria.”

The report added that 2 of the men have returned to Nigeria upon their request, adding that Yeye and Roman Ebimene Friday, a 35-year-old applied for asylum in Brazil. 

Roman prays the government of Brazil will pity him.