Report: Stowaways in container on ship in NJ port

AP Photo/Julio Cortez

A police official stands near the entrance to a terminal at Port Newark in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday as Immigration and Customs officials investigate reports of stowaways.

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By Elizabeth Chuck, msnbc.com

Immigration agents were called to Port Newark in New Jersey Wednesday morning amid reports that a ship docked there has multiple stowaways aboard.

Inspectors first became suspicious when they heard knocking and other noises "consistent with the sounds of people inside" coming from a cargo container below deck while the ship was anchored in the Ambrose Channel outside the Port of New York and New Jersey, Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe told NBCNewYork.com.

After hearing the noises during the routine overnight inspection, Coast Guard officials stayed aboard the Ville d'Aquarius, which had ports of call in Pakistan, Egypt, and India before its arrival, as it docked in Newark this morning, reported NorthJersey.com.

The container is believed to have been put on the ship in one of two ports in India -- either Mundra or Nahva Sheva -- before the ship left India on June 7, Rowe told NBCNewYork.com. The ship's last port before the United States was in Egypt on June 15.

The ship's manifest said the container was carrying machine parts to be unloaded in Norfolk, Va.

The Ville d'Aquarius is registered in Cyprus, according to the New Jersey Star-Ledger. Initial reports were that its current voyage originated in Pakistan; numerous media outlets later said it began in the United Arab Emirates.

A call to the Coast Guard seeking clarification from msnbc.com was not immediately returned.

NBC?chopper video captured?federal officials?swarming around?the New Jersey dock to investigate the vessel. More than a dozen ambulances were also lined up.

Details about the number of alleged stowaways or their health were not immediately available.

"If there are people or other material, and we don't know what they are, we are simply covering all the bases," Rowe told New Jersey's Star-Ledger.

An official?told NBCNewYork.com "it will take a significant amount of time" to reach the container. As of late morning, three containers had been unloaded by authorities, all of which contained only cargo, reported WABC in New York.

Officials say they get stowaways in New York harbors about six times a year, NBCNewYork.com reported.

This is a developing news story. Check back for updates.

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