Updated

Police have arrested a man who secretly clung onto a catamaran ferry in Morocco and traveled to Spain by holding onto the rear of one of its engines.

Authorities released dramatic photographs showing the barefoot, shirtless Algerian stowaway partially hidden at the stern of the ship and holding on while its engines roared and the ocean churned immediately beneath him.

The Interior Ministry said Sunday that the 48-year-old suspected illegal immigrant was arrested as the ship was completing its journey from Tangier, Morocco, to Tarifa, Spain.

It said the man apparently had hoped to dive into the water as the ferry approached Tarifa, swim to safety and illegally enter Spain.

Tarifa, a port in southern Spain, is one of several points in the country where illegal immigrants are caught.