Three would-be immigrants from Morocco tried to row across the Strait of Gibraltar on a surfboard in rough seas before they were picked up by a passing ferry, a Spanish newspaper said on Tuesday.
The ferry was 20 minutes out of the Moroccan port of Tangiers on November 20, according to a passenger, Miguel Marin, quoted by El Mundo newspaper.
“It was then that we saw something moving far away,” he said.
The paper published a photograph of the three on the surfboard, to which a big rubber buoy was attached containing their personal effects, and carrying paddles.
It said the waves were up to 3m high.
“They were trying to attract our attention,” said Marin.
The three, all aged 29, told the ferry crew that they had left Rabat the previous night to try and reach Spain.
Radio Cadena Ser said they had been at sea for seven hours.
Authorities fear many of the thousands of Africans who make the perilous journey towards Spain each year die of thirst or exposure on the risky voyages, but there is no way of knowing exactly how many have died. — AFP