NEWARK, New Jersey: Banging noises from a cargo container loaded in India led the US Coast Guard yesterday to suspect stowaways were inside, and an hours-long wait began for it to be unloaded and opened. Both ambulances and law enforcement were on the scene.
A Coast Guard team heard the noises after boarding the Ville D’Aquarius vessel outside New York Harbor early yesterday as the ship prepared to dock at Port Newark.
The officers were knocking on containers during a sound check, “and they knocked on this one and they heard a knocking back,” spokeswoman Michelle Krupa told the Star-Ledger of Newark.
The team followed protocol and didn’t open the container at sea in order to control the situation, Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe said. A manifest said the container aboard the ship was carrying machine parts, he said.
Once the ship was docked, authorities began unloading containers to reach it, using large cranes. It would take several hours to reach the container, said Drew Barry of the Sandy Hook Pilots Association, who boarded the ship Wednesday morning.
“There are at least 30 to 40 containers on top of the hatch cover, and I don’t know how many more below it,” Barry said. “If there are people down there, with no food and water for days, they’re probably pretty desperate by now.” The ship began its voyage May 30 in the United Arab Emirates, then made one stop in Pakistan and two stops in India. Its last port before Newark was in Egypt on June 15.
Stowaways suspected in container ship docked at Port Newark in US
