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Wednesday, Jun 27, 2012 2:45 PM UTC

Stowaways suspected in container ship docked in NJ

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Stowaways suspected in container ship docked in NJOfficials arrive at Port Newark to investigate reports of stowaways in a container inside a ship, Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Newark, N.J. The Coast Guard suspects there are stowaways in a container that was loaded on a ship. Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe says a boarding party heard sounds consistent with people coming from the container. The container was loaded aboard The Villa D'Aquarius in India. The manifest says the container was carrying machine parts to be unloaded in Norfolk, Va. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)(Credit: AP)

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Ambulances and law enforcement met a cargo ship at a New Jersey pier on Wednesday after a routine inspection led the Coast Guard to believe that stowaways were inside a container loaded in India.

The container, which a manifest said was carrying machine parts to Norfolk, Va., was loaded aboard the Ville D’Aquarius in India, Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe said.

A Coast Guard team boarded the 850-foot-long vessel outside New York Harbor early Wednesday as the ship prepared to dock at Port Newark.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Wednesday that officials are conducting a “thorough investigation of the vessel.”

The boarding party heard sounds consistent with people coming from the container, Rowe said. The boarding party followed protocol and didn’t open the container at sea in order to control the situation, Rowe said.

Customs and Border Patrol agents planned to open the container once it was unloaded.

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.

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