8 Stowaways Found on Ship at Port

Eight Ecuadoreans hid aboard a banana boat for as long as 10 days before they were discovered in Port Hueneme at the end of a voyage from South America, authorities said.

Three men were treated for dehydration and three others for frostbite after they were apprehended Monday, said Mike Fleming, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The men carried no identification, and their names were not immediately available.

They were expected to be detained and then returned to Ecuador, Fleming said.

The men hid aboard the Malaga Carrier when it left Ecuador. It made stops in Colombia and Guatemala before arriving in California.

Authorities got a tip Sunday that stowaways were aboard but found nothing when they searched the huge ship after it arrived in the Ventura County port.

However, about 8 a.m. Monday, five men were spotted walking down the gangplank. The men told authorities they had hidden among the bananas in the cargo hold.

The ship was then searched by immigration, customs and Coast Guard agents.

Three men seen walking on the deck were taken into custody. They told authorities that they had hidden in the operator’s cab of a crane on the ship.