A Week of Transport Stowaways: A Cat in a Bag and Three Men On a Rudder
The title of this article reads like a nursery rhyme, but they describe real-life occurrences. In the last week, news of stowaways in two separate situations dominated this writer’s feed.
The first almost snuck onto a flight at JFK Airport, New York. Smells, the cat, was caught when the bag it had crept into went through X-Ray. Lucky for the feline, the screening officers were paying attention and the warm-blooded cat showed up bright red on the thermal scanner in stark contrast with the other inanimate items. An officer opened the bag and was surprised to find a live, orange cat curled up inside.
We’ve seen how luggage are handled at the airport, getting tossed onto trolleys and conveyor belts. And if that didn’t hurt, the baggage compartment of the plane’s cargo hold can get very cold. Smells may not have made it to Orlando alive, where the bag and owner were headed, to chase Mickey Mouse.
The bag-owner was called to come collect the cat and no, it wasn’t a case of animal abuse. The traveler and the paw-rent are housemates; the former was not aware, apparently, that the cat was in the bag and returned it home safely, although he had to catch another flight the next day. Smells lived to celebrate Thanksgiving with his owner and become a viral sensation.
The second story is more sobering. Three stowaways from Nigeria were found sitting on the rudder of an oil tanker after an 11-day voyage to the Canary Islands. Spain’s maritime rescue agency shared a photo of the men sitting on the rudder with their legs dangling over the side, their feet barely inches above water.
The men were treated for dehydration and hypothermia, and they are the lucky ones. Authorities say that this is not the first case of its kind—many have braved the 2,800 miles of sea the same dangerous way, having little protection from the box-like cavity above the rudder.
According to Reuters, 2,976 migrants have died or are missing since 2014 from attempts to cross from Africa to the Europe by sea. And even if they make it across alive, they still face the chance of deportation back to where they came.
