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UK Officials: 35 People Found in Shipping Container


Policemen stand guard at an entrance to Tilbury Docks, east of London, Aug. 16, 2014.
Policemen stand guard at an entrance to Tilbury Docks, east of London, Aug. 16, 2014.

British police say one man has died and at least 19 people have been hospitalized after they were found inside a shipping container at a port east of London.

Investigators say a total of 35 people, including women and children, were found inside the container on Saturday at the Tilbury Docks in Essex.

Police Superintendent Trevor Roe told reporters that port workers heard "screaming and banging" inside the container, which had arrived on a ship from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

He said authorities have been searching other containers from the ship, in case there are more people inside.

Police are they are treating the death of the man who was inside as a homicide. Investigators say some of the other passengers are suffering from dehydration and hypothermia.

Investigators say they do not know where the container originated. They say the survivors are believed to be from the "Indian subcontinent."

There was no immediate word on how the immigrants wound up inside of the container.

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