At least five of the 49 stowaways from the tugboat from Senegal that docked this Friday in Arrecife could be minors, as confirmed to EFE this Saturday by sources from the emergency services.
The ship Zwerver 3 arrived around 6:00 p.m. at the Port of Los Mármoles and, once there, the Red Cross assisted the 49 stowaways, among whom there were eleven injured.
According to the same sources, they are all males of Senegalese origin and were treated in the tent installed in the port to care for migrants arriving on the island in precarious boats.
They have not requested asylum for now
Sources from the Island Directorate of the General State Administration in Lanzarote have informed EFE this Saturday that, for the moment, these people have not requested asylum because the administrative procedure must initially be carried out in accordance with the regulations governing how to act in cases related to stowaways.
In that procedure, which has already begun, they will be consulted about their intentions and, if they request political asylum, the corresponding procedure will be activated, "which is long and they can be in the tent for up to more than 10 days," they indicated.
In addition, the island Directorate has detailed that the consignee has hired security guards, in addition to having the collaboration of the National Police.
Destination to Belgium from Senegal
The ship, flying the Dutch flag and bound for the port of Antwerp (Belgium), departed from Dakar, the capital of Senegal, ten days ago.
On Friday morning, it contacted the port of Arrecife requesting permission to dock and reported that it had found 49 stowaways on board the barge it was towing.
This Friday, the port authorities had requested the ship to deposit a bond of one million euros, taking into account that maritime legislation establishes that the shipowner must take care of the maintenance, lodging and return tickets of the stowaways who travel clandestinely.
After several hours in which the ship remained at the limit of twelve nautical miles, waiting for the Maritime Captaincy to authorize its entry into port, the ship finally set course for Arrecife and the arrival of the stowaways was allowed "for humanitarian reasons", according to those same sources.