London, Nov 22 Pharoah the cat has survived the 3, 000-mile voyage from Port Said in Egypt to the British port of Felixstowe after it was found crammed in a container on board the MV Maersk Batam.

"We opened this container that had just arrived from Egypt to ensure that it was all in order and I was with the forklift operator and became aware there was something in there," the Telegraph quoted John Biscoe, of GMA Freight, as saying. e added: "It was a container with wire coils and I said there was a cat in there.

"The other chap wondered if it was a lion or something but then this little thing jumped out and started rubbing around my legs."

Two officers of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) collected Pharaoh and it is now cared for at a cattery near Colchester, Essex.

Biscoe said: "He was very scrawny and we gave him a bowl of water and one of my colleagues gave him his sandwich ~ he ate the meat very quickly.

"He must have been someone's pet in Egypt - he was very happy to see us."

Pharaoh will have to stay at the cattery for five and a half months under rabies quarantine rules.

A Suffolk County Council spokeswoman said: "He was not in a very good state and at first it was thought he might not survive.

"He has been taken to a quarantine centre at Colchester, checked for rabies and other problems, fed and been looked after and now looks much better.

"Pharaoh will have to stay in quarantine and then it will be re-homed here." (ANI)