No stowaways found inside containers on ship at N.J. port

A search of a Virginia-bound cargo ship docked at Newark, N.J., turned up no stowaways a day after "knocking" sounds were heard during a routine inspection, authorities said today.

Update at 3:17 p.m. ET Thursday: The Department of Homeland Security says a "lengthy and exhaustive inspection" of more than 160 containers turned up no stowaways aboard the 850-foot container shipVille D'Aquarius, the Associated Press reports.

AP writes that the agency "refused to answer questions about what may have caused the false alarm."

The Coast Guard had said that inspectors who boarded the ship early Wednesday reported hearing "knocking" over a two-hour period when they knocked on a bulkhead.

Authorities then used X-ray equipment, dogs and inspectors to search more than 163 containers "buried in a pile of containers containing machine tool parts," ABC News says.

The ship left India on June 11 with more than 2,000 containers. Its last port of call before Newak was in Egypt. ABC says that when the search began it was rumored that up to 25 stowaways from Pakistan were aboard and that one emergency radio call reported them as possible terrorists.

The ship is to leave Newark on Friday for Norfolk, Va.

Original post by Douglas Stanglin: The Coast Guard has narrowed its search for possible stowaways to about 200 containers on a ship at New Jersey's Port Newark Container Terminal.

Inspectors were alerted to possible stowaways about 1 a.m. ET after hearing sounds coming from one of the containers during a routine inspection of the Ville D'Aquarius as it neared New York harbor.

The ship is carrying about 2,000 containers.

More than a dozen ambulances are standing by on the pier, the AP says.

Update at 3:30 p.m. ET: The search could last past midnight, Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe told the Star-Ledger.

The search is focused on about 200 containers, Rowe said. Between 80 and 90 have been inspected since 1 a.m., fewer than reported earlier. He added that it takes about 8 minutes to X-ray and inspect each container.

No knocking has been heard since the original report, he said.

Update at 1:25 p.m. ET: The Newark Star-Ledger, quoting an unidentified source, reports that officials have already X-rayed about 130 of 210 containers they designated for closer inspection.

The newspaper quotes Michelle Krupa, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard New York Command Center, as saying the initial sounds from a container were heard during a routine boarding inspection as the vessel approached New York Harbor.

"It was a random boarding, and they were doing a sound check and they knocked on this one and they heard a knocking back," she says.

Original post:The Star-Ledger reports that officers from the federal Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the Coast Guard and the Port Authority are on board the ship in preparation for the opening of the container.

The newspaper says Customs officials, making a routine inspection this morning, heard sounds in the container that indicated people could be inside.

The Pakistani ship, Ville D'Aquarius, left Egypt June 15. The AP says the container was loaded in India and is said to contain machine parts bound for Norfolk, Va.