LONG BEACH, Calif. — Twenty-three Chinese stowaways were discovered huddled inside two cramped cargo containers after apparently enduring more than three weeks at sea.
The immigrants were taken to a hospital Monday night for medical evaluation before being transferred to a federal detention center, said Capt. Mike Garcia of the Long Beach Fire Department.
The canvas-topped steel containers had been unloaded from a cargo ship, The Maple River, which left China on March 14 and stopped in Vancouver, British Columbia. It arrived Monday in Long Beach.
Food, water and mattresses piled closely together were in the 25- to 40-foot-long containers.
"They were living in deplorable conditions," Garcia said. "Fortunately, the top of the container was canvas and not steel, which provided better ventilation for them."
The immigrants were discovered in a dockside storage area after a stowaway fell and broke his ankle while climbing out of one container, Garcia said.