Wretched end to a desperate journey

VALENCIA PORT: Scene of adolescents’ tragic deaths Photo credit: Enric Young

TWO African stowaways, believed to be around 13, were drowned when they jumped from a merchant ship in Valencia port. 
According to the Spanish press, they were killed by the eddies slapping against the ship’s hull as it docked, hampered by their own clothes and the luggage they carried 
According to some sources, they hardly knew how to swim but rejected the lifebelts they were thrown. 
They carried no identity documents and pathologists are taking fingerprints and DNA samples in an attempt to match them against Spanish databases. 
Not only their identities are a mystery, but investigators do not have a clear idea of where the boys stowed away on board the Leto, registered in Liberia. 
They only know they could have joined the ship in Douala (Cameroon) or possibly San Pedro in Ivory Coast, the last port that the Leto visited before the two-week crossing to Spain. 

Written by

Linda Hall

Originally from the UK, Linda is based in Valenca and is a reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering local news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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