Stowaways die in Miami-bound container
Crewmembers conducting a routine security search Monday aboard a Seaboard Marine vessel bound for the Port of Miami discovered two dead stowaways inside a sealed container and two others who are now listed in serious condition in a Miami hospital.
Shortly after 7 a.m. Monday, crew members about the Seaboard Trader heard banging from inside a container and discovered the dead men when they opened the door. One other stowaway was unconscious and the other was still conscious, a report in the Miami Herald said.
The U.S. Coast Guard was alerted the vessel would be coming into the port with fatalities and the two men needing medical attention. The survivors were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.
The stowaways were described as middle-aged. Their nationality had not been determined.
A Coast Guard spokesman said the vessel had sailed from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic on Saturday. He said the men had been in the container for four days.
The container had been loaded in Haiti and trucked to Puerto Plata.
The report said Customs and Border Protection plans to initiate an expedited deportation process for the survivors because they entered the country illegally.
Stowaways die in Miami-bound container
