On their tenth day at sea, the four Nigerian stowaways crossing the Atlantic in a tiny space above the rudder of a cargo ship ran out of food and drink.
They survived another four days, according to their account, by drinking the sea water crashing just meters below them, before being rescued by Brazilian federal police in the southeastern port of Vitoria.
Their remarkable, death-defying journey across some 5,600 kilometres (3,500 miles) of ocean underlines the risks some migrants are prepared to take for a shot at a better life.
"It was a terrible experience for me," said 38-year-old Thankgod Opemipo Matthew Yeye, one of the four Nigerians, in an interview at a Sao Paulo church shelter.
"On board, it is not easy. I was shaking, so scared. But I'm here."
Their relief at being rescued soon gave way to surprise.
The four men said they had hoped to reach Europe and were shocked to learn they had in fact landed on the other side of the Atlantic, in Brazil.
Two of the men have since been returned to Nigeria upon their request, while Yeye and Roman Ebimene Friday, a 35-year-old from Bayelsa state, 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, who they also worried might offer them a watery grave.
"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.
To prevent themselves from falling into the water, Friday said the men rigged up a net around the rudder and tied themselves to it with a rope. When he looked down, he said he could see "big fish like whales and sharks." Due to the cramped conditions and the noise of the engine, sleep was rare and risky. "I was very happy when we got rescued," he said.
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."
Latest Stories
-
ICT On Wheels: Students of Northern College of Science and Technology teach other students basic ICT skills
1 min -
Champions Bayer Leverkusen become first German side to go a full season unbeaten
2 mins -
Sonko irked by ‘lasting’ stay of French troops in Senegal
15 mins -
South Africa ends rescue efforts at collapsed George building
20 mins -
Nigerian Central Bank intervention fails to stem naira slide
22 mins -
Husband sets 3-month deadline for his postpartum wife to lose 50 pounds
24 mins -
Late MP John Kumah laid to rest amid glowing tributes
27 mins -
Nigeria asks Senegal to mediate with junta-led states
37 mins -
Over-dependence on imports and low local content affecting exchange rate – Prof Bokpin
45 mins -
De Zerbi to leave Brighton after Man United clash
1 hour -
First Dep BoG Governor Dr Maxwell Opoku-Afari speaks on Ghana’s economic evolution and digital future
1 hour -
Sean Combs is shown assaulting former girlfriend Cassie in 2016 surveillance video
1 hour -
Cedi depreciation: We have complained a lot but is anybody listening? – Dr Otoo
2 hours -
Rev. Dr Lawrence Tetteh to march to Jubilee House over anti-gay bill delay
2 hours -
Throwing cash in the air – Nigeria’s wedding dilemma
2 hours