Four Nigerian stowaways survive 14 days on a ship’s rudder by drinking their own urine before

Two men have told of their remarkable, death-defying journey across 3,500 miles (5,600 kilometres) of open ocean from Lagos, Nigeria to Vitória, Brazil.

Fleeing economic hardship and political instability, the men from Nigeria said they had climbed in a space above the rudder of a cargo ship and hoped to reach Europe.

But after two weeks of travelling, and having run out of food and water, they had to resort to drinking their own urine and sea water as the ship pushed on towards South America.

Thankgod Opemipo Matthew Yeye, 38, said in an interview after safely arriving: ‘It was a terrible experience for me. On board it is not easy. I was shaking, so scared. But I’m here.’

Roman Ebimene Friday, 35, said they rigged up a net around the rudder to stop themselves falling in. When he looked down, he saw ‘big fish like whales and sharks’. 

Four stowaways survived two-week 3,500-mile Atlantic crossing on cargo ship’s rudder

The four men travelled together from Nigeria, across the Atlantic Ocean to Vitória, Brazil. One man said he started his journey on June 27 and was surprised to find three other men already on the cargo ship, who endured the perilous 3,500 mile journey with him

Interviewed at a Sao Paolo church shelter after the ordeal, the men explained they had survived by drinking sea water crashing just metres below them.

They were finally rescued by Brazilian federal police in the southeastern port of Vitória two weeks after setting off on June 27.

Due to the cramped conditions and the noise of the engine, sleep was rare and risky.

‘I was very happy when we got rescued,’ Friday said.

The four men said they were shocked when they had landed in Brazil, expecting to get to Europe.

Two of the men have since been returned to Nigeria upon their request, while Yeye and Friday have applied for asylum in Brazil.

‘I pray the government of Brazil will have pity on me,’ said Friday, who had already attempted to flee Nigeria by ship once before but was arrested by authorities there.

Both men said economic hardship, political instability and crime had left them with little option but to abandon their native Nigeria. 

Africa’s most populous country has longstanding issues of violence and poverty, and kidnappings are endemic.

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 him up to the stern of the Liberian-flagged Ken Wave, docked in Lagos, and left 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 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.

‘Maybe if they catch you they will throw you in the water,’ he said. ‘So we taught ourselves never to make a noise.’

Spending two weeks within spitting distance of the Atlantic Ocean was perilous.

Thankgod Matthew (L) and Roman Ebimene (R) pose for a photo during an interview, after being rescued from a ship rudder on the Brazilian coast, in Sao Paulo, Brazil July 26

Father Paolo Parise, a priest at the Sao Paulo shelter, said he had come across other cases of stowaways, but never one so dangerous. 

Their journey paid testament to lengths people will go in search of a new start, he said. ‘People do unimaginable and deeply dangerous things.’