Shortly after midnight on June 27, 35-year-old Roman Ebimene Friday climbed onto the helm of a cargo ship in Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos.
Earlier that day he had seen the cargo ship in the harbor, and he hoped it would take him to Europe. At the helm he found three other men who had had the same idea, and who were now hiding under cover of darkness.
It was the start of an unlikely journey that would almost cost them all their lives.
“No Jobs”
Roman Friday had spent three years on the streets of Nigeria when he left. He had lost hope, he says.
– In Nigeria there are no jobs, no money and no chance for me to get food for my younger brother and my mother. I am the first born and my father died twenty years ago, so I should take care of my family, but I can’t, he tells the BBC.
One of the other men at the helm was 38-year-old father of two Thankgod Opemipo Matthew Yeye. He had lost everything when his groundnut and palm oil plantations in Nigeria were washed away in floods.
Sharks and whales
Last year, three other men made a similar trip on a ship’s helm. They then ended up in the Spanish Canary Islands.
But this ship would turn out to have a different—much more distant—destination.
The men tried to cling to the rudder, which was constantly moving. They strung up nets to sleep in and tied themselves with ropes. But the fear of falling into the water was great, and the sleep minimal. In the water they saw sharks and whales.
– If the net breaks, you fall straight into the water and are gone. And you are truly gone. There is no chance of being rescued at sea when no one knows you are missing, says Roman Friday.
Hope to stay
After ten days the food and water ran out. The men drank salt water and got sick from it.
After 14 days, Friday finally made landfall, and the men were received by Brazilian police. A policeman held out a water bottle.
– You are in Brazil, he said.
The stowaways had made a journey of 560 miles, across the entire Atlantic.
Two of the men have returned to Nigeria. But Roman Friday and Thankgod Yeye – both of whom had actually set their sights on Europe – have now applied for asylum in Brazil instead.
– It is a new beginning, says Roman Yeye.