Officers of the Liberian Immigration Service have handed over 11 Nigerian stowaways rescued on the high sea to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
The 11 Nigerians and a Cameroonian aged between 24 and 40 years arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, on Thursday, October 6, 2022.
The stowaways are Seyi Popoola, Precious Uwalogho, Ayetimiyi Kelvin, Stephen Junior, Emmanuel Benjamin, Balogun Gbenga, Temiotan Adewale, Igiebor Stephen, Hamza John, Alfred Ese and Ogechi Chika.
According to reports, the stowaways all sneaked into the basement of Ophelia Panama, a cargo ship at Tin Can Island, Apapa, Lagos at about 12 midnight on Wednesday, September 7, 2022 after transporting themselves on a smaller boat to the ship with the hope of getting to Europe illegally.
They entered with their personal belongings and some food items, with the hope of somehow making it to any country in Europe. The ship set out for Europe in the morning, without the slightest knowledge of the crew members.
However, on the fifth day of their trip, after exhausting all the food items in their possession and they were close to starvation, they all decided to present themselves to the ship’s crew in hope of some sympathy and food for survival.
However, they were all subjected to severe physical and mental torture and dumped into the waters in their threes by the crew members.
Two Nigerians died, while 11 sustained various degrees of injuries before being rescued by Liberian fishermen who handed them to their Immigration service.
Narrating their ordeal, one of the victims said:
“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 chemicals which were burning our skins while asking us to jump into the high seas.”
Comptroller of Immigration Service, Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA) Command, CIS Adeola Adesokan, who received the stowaway 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.”
