Authorities in Britain found three malnourished men in a shipping container that arrived from Nigeria at the Tilbury Port in Essex.
Paramedics said the men may have been inside the container for three weeks, reports the Telegraph. They were treated at a hospital and later handed to immigration officials, the BBC said.
A spokesman for the Essex Ambulance Service told the Telegraph a fourth man was also handed to immigration authorities after he was found to be in good condition. The container was to be reshipped to Holland.
Port of Tilbury police told the BBC the men were from Liberia and had requested asylum.
A spokesman said Tilbury port workers were alerted by cries from inside the container. "But for the port workers' prompt action they would almost certainly have died," he said.