Unemployed African refugee wins 170 million Naira in Christmas lottery

An unemployed refugee from Senegal  who was rescued by the Spanish coastguard after making a risky journey from Morocco eight years ago won 400,000 euros (170 million Naira) in Spain’s annual Christmas lottery, local media reported Wednesday.

Ngame and his wife arrived eight years ago in the resort island of Tenerife, a part of Spain’s Canary Islands in the Atlantic off the coast of Morocco. They were taken there after being rescued by Spain’s coast guard when the boat they were travelling in ran into trouble.

He was so stunned that he won that he stuttered “I just can’t believe this, I can tell you that on some days we do not have five euros between the two of us,” he told the newspaper which published a photo of Ngame holding his winning ticket.

“There were 65 people on that boat. I want to give thanks to Spaniards and the Spanish government for rescuing me when I was in the sea,” he told the newspaper.

Ngame is one of the holders of one of the 1,600 tickets with the winning number in the lottery.

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