6 Companions Dead, 2 Tell of Stowaway Hell

Two Dominican men who survived a deadly journey to the United States in a sealed freight container told reporters Friday how they sucked air through a crack in the box while six others screamed and died around them.

The men credited their survival to staying calm in the excruciating heat. They said that contrary to earlier accounts by some U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service officials, their countrymen did not fight among themselves for air.

“There wasn’t any fighting at all. It was just screaming, hoping that (the crew) would hear us,” said Raul Mena, adding that he and Daniel Fernandez may have survived because they did not become hysterical like the others.

Six men died in the container, which officials say may have reached temperatures up to 130 degrees.

Mena, 25, and Fernandez, 19, showed little emotion while telling the story of their harrowing three-day journey to the United States aboard a cargo ship.

The men said they made the desperate gamble for their families. They wanted to get jobs because there is little work in their homeland.

Mena, Fernandez and the others paid up to $400 to be sealed in the freight container, which was loaded on the Tropic Reign on Saturday night in Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic.

The voyage to Palm Beach, Fla., took three days, though the stowaways said they were told it would take only 1 1/2.

They took provisions: six gallons of water, juice, a few chocolate candy bars and bread. They also had some tools, which they were told to take if they needed to cut breathing holes: two small saws, a hand drill and two flashlights.

“The first day was tranquil. We would eat, sleep,” Fernandez said. On the second day, when the heat started to rise, “we all started to get desperate and agitated,” he said.

They said the others started pounding on the sides of the container and screaming: “Let me out! Let me out!” But Mena and Fernandez tried to stay calm, conserving their strength.

On Monday, the two started drilling a series of small holes in the side of the container, then painstakingly connected them with a thin-bladed keyhole saw.

Finally, the 12-inch-by-12-inch hole was big enough for them to squeeze through.