At that stage the ship was 55 nautical miles (102km) from Durban harbour and 22 nautical miles (41km) out to sea.

NPA spokesperson Natasha Cara said: “The accused became wary of the men and asked them to wear face masks in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The men refused to wear the face masks. They gave them food and water, and put them into a separate room, as they did not know their Covid-19 status and feared for the rest of the crew. The two men demanded to know the vessel’s destination.”

The following day a decision was taken that they must be removed from the ship. The crew built a raft from sticks, plastic sealed drums and plywood. The ship sailed three nautical miles (5.5km) off the coast near Zinkwazi and the pair were lowered down on a ladder.

As they went down, the ladder moved and they attempted to climb back up.

The crew started banging with sticks and threatened them to go back down. One of the stowaways was forcibly moved to another ladder.

They spent two days adrift before eventually washing up on Zinkwazi beach.

In mitigation of sentence, defence Advocate Willie Lombard said Salumu and Rajabu had been given life jackets and water and the crew could see land.

He referred to medical reports which showed that Rajabu had no external injuries and Salamu had some swelling on his ankle.

Lombard argued that there were many mitigating facts - and that "if we wanted to be cruel we would have dropped them in high seas, with no life jackets”.

The stowaways are presently being detained while their status in South Africa is being investigated and if they will be charged with any criminal offences.