They Heard a 'Dog' in the Plane's Belly. Then a Voice Asked for Water

It sounded like a dog in the cargo hold of the Swift Air plane from Havana that had just landed in Miami early Friday. Then: "I'm not a dog." The voice from the belly of the private charter plane, officials say, was that of a Cuban stowaway, who's said to have asked for water after he was spotted by a ramp agent taking luggage out of the cargo area shortly after midnight, per NBC Miami. Via the New York Daily News, the Miami Herald IDs the man as 26-year-old Yunier Duarte, who was taken into custody by US Customs and Border Protection after he was discovered.

A video from the Herald shows a man, assumed to be Duarte, sitting on the tarmac while CBP agents mill about him. Per the El Nuevo Herald, Duarte is an employee at Havana's Jose Marti International Airport. Duarte was reportedly denied entry to the US. "CBP officers remain vigilant to arrest persons trying to elude detection in violation of federal law," the agency says in a statement, per CBS Miami. (More stowaway stories.)