Nigerians make perilous 14-day long journey to Brazil atop ship's rudder

Record ID: 1736360

  • Title: Nigerians make perilous 14-day long journey to Brazil atop ship's rudder
  • Date: 1st August 2023
  • Summary: SAO PAULO, BRAZIL (JULY 26, 2023) (REUTERS) WELCOME SIGN AT MIGRANT SHELTER NIGERIAN MIGRANTS, ROMAN GOIMENE FRIDAY AND THANKGOD OPEMIPO YEYE TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) NIGERIAN MIGRANT, ROMAN GOIMENE FRIDAY, SAYING: “I thought that I was going to Europe and then all of a sudden I found myself, ‘I am in Brazil, in Espirito Santo, Vitoria.’ So when the federal police came, I don’t even know where I was. So the federal police came and they asked ‘Do you know where you are?’ I said no. I was the person that was sitting on the block of the vessel. They asked ‘Do you know where you are?’ I said no, they said ‘This is Brazil.’ That was the first thing they said, ‘This is Brazil.’ I said ‘Wow, this is Brazil.’ I made it to Brazil. I am happy.” VARIOUS OF GOIMENE’S FACE (SOUNDBITE) (English) NIGERIAN MIGRANT, ROMAN GOIMENE FRIDAY, SAYING: “I pray for the government of Brazil and Casa do Imigrante to have pity on me, to have mercy on me, to maybe look for a better job for me to work.” GOIMENE AND OPEMIPO STANDING IN THE HALLWAY (SOUNDBITE) (English) NIGERIAN MIGRANT, ROMANI GOIMENE FRIDAY, SAYING: “I am a citizen of Nigeria, in Nigeria, you don’t have your rights so I kept on thinking what to do, I didn’t tell anybody that I am planning to leave the country because, number 1, I don’t have a passport, I don’t have a visa, I don’t even have money to pursue for a visa. So I live by the highlands It looked like there were four vessels coming, so I decided, if I have an opportunity to enter a vessel, I don’t care to know where they are taking me to." GOIMENE AND OPEMIPO WALKING INTO HALLWAY GOIMENE SITTING OPEMIPO’S FACE (SOUNDBITE) (English) NIGERIAN MIGRANT, THANKGOD OPEMIPO YEYE, SAYING: “It was a terrible experience for me. It was the first time, I never tried that before. But because I had already made up my mind to leave so I just summoned the courage. But then it’s not easy. The sea, the ship, it was shaking. I was so scared, but now I am here in Brazil.” NIGERIANS MIGRANTS TALKING TO CASA DO IMIGRANTE WORKER, ISABELA (SOUNDBITE) (English) NIGERIAN MIGRANT, THANKGOD OPEMIPO YEYE, SAYING: “It is my choice. If something is not working for you, you have to leave. It is not working for me, the economy is not working, everything is not working for me. Before I came here I was homeless, with no home, no family, my wife stayed in another place (other than where) I am staying, my children, you know. I had to make up my mind. That's it.” GOIMENE AND OPEMIPO POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS
  • Embargoed: 15th August 2023 12:17
  • Keywords: Brazil Migration Nigeria boat rudder sea ship
  • Location: SAO PAULO & VITORIA, BRAZIL
  • City: SAO PAULO & VITORIA, BRAZIL
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,South America / Central America,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA002105230072023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: On their tenth day at sea, the four Nigerian stowaways crossing the Atlantic in a tiny space above the rudder of a container ship ran out of food and water.
    Four days later, after surviving by drinking the sea water crashing just meters below them, the four men were rescued by Brazilian federal police in the southeastern port city of Vitoria - bringing to a close a remarkable, death-defying journey which underlines the risks many migrants are willing to take for a shot at a better life.
    Their relief at being rescued soon gave way to surprise.
    The four men had hoped to reach Europe, and were shocked to learn they had in fact landed thousands of miles away in Brazil. Two of the men have since returned to Nigeria, while Yeye, from Lagos State, and Roman Goimene Friday, a 35-year-old from Bayelsa state, have applied for asylum in Brazil.
    Both men said economic hardship, political instability and criminal violence had left them with the little option but to abandon their native land.
    Yeye, a pentecostal minister from Lagos state, said his peanut and palm oil farm was destroyed by floods this year, leaving him and his family homeless. He hopes they can now join him in Brazil.
    Friday said his journey to Brazil began on June 27, when a fisherman friend rowed up to the stern of the Liberian flagged ship named Ken Wave, and deposited him by the rudder. To his surprise, he found three men already there, waiting for the ship to depart. Friday said he was terrified - he didn't know who his new shipmates were, and worried they might toss him overboard 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 feared might also offer them a watery grave.
    Spending two weeks within spitting distance of the Atlantic Ocean was perilous.
    To prevent themselves from falling into the water, Friday said the men rigged up a net around the rudder and tied themselves to it with a rope. When he looked down, he said he could see whales and sharks.
    (Production: Lais Morais, Nina Lopez)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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