BY LUISA YANEZ

Workers on the late shift at a DHL warehouse at Miami International Airport were processing cargo from a Nassau-to-Miami flight when they heard a voice coming from a plywood crate.

Apprehensively, they approached and pried open the package.

A young Cuban woman unfolded herself from her cramped position and stepped out into the night air, in good condition.

In a twist on a 40-year-old tradition that usually involves rafts or speedboats, she had entered the United States by stuffing herself, a jug of water and a cellphone into a crate not much bigger than a small filing cabinet and having herself shipped.

The gamble paid off. The woman, still not publicly identified, will be allowed to stay in this country under the wet-foot, dry-foot policy that allows undocumented Cubans who reach U.S. soil to avoid immediate deportation, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Wednesday.

Officials hope the practice doesn't catch on.

''This is really dangerous,'' said Zach Mann, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, referring to the freezing temperatures and dearth of oxygen in a plane's cargo section. ``We don't recommend people try to migrate here this way.''

'SHORT WOMAN'

The woman was discovered Tuesday night in a crate measuring 36 by 26 by 18 inches, Mann said. The shipment originated in Nassau, but other aspects of the woman's journey were being investigated.

''She must have been a short woman to fit into the crate, I can tell you that much,'' Mann said. The woman must have been sitting for the journey. It's the only way she would have fit.

Pete Field, an aviation expert and former director of the Navy's pilot school, said the woman may have made it to Florida relatively unscathed because of the shortness of the flight. He also speculated that the package may have been in a pressurized area of the plane.

Whatever the case, DHL workers in Miami were so amazed that they called a local television station and took pictures of the crate with their camera phones.

The crate was dropped off at DHL's Nassau station, then flown to Miami by a carrier under contract to DHL, the company said.

The cost of shipping more than 100 pounds to the United States would be in the hundreds of dollars, depending on the type of service.

The woman was expected to spend Wednesday night at the Krome Detention Center in West Miami-Dade County before a reunion with relatives today.

GOVERNMENT POLICY

Under the wet-foot, dry-foot policy, Cubans who reach U.S. soil -- like the woman in the crate -- are usually allowed to stay, while most stopped at sea are sent home.

Some local exiles called the journey a political statement.

''This is another example of the desperation the Cuban people are experiencing,'' said Ninoska Perez, head of the Cuban Liberty Council, an exile group.

Perez, a Spanish-language radio host, made a plea on the air Wednesday for the woman's relatives to come forward so she could feature the stowaway's story, but as of Wednesday evening, she had not heard from any.

It's not the first time someone has made a self-shipment.

Last year, Charles McKinley, 26, a former New York shipping clerk, airmailed himself from New Jersey to his parents' home in the Fort Worth-Dallas area in a 42-by-36-by-15-inch crate.

In February, McKinley pleaded guilty to a federal charge of stowing away on an aircraft. He was fined $1,500 and sentenced to four months of house arrest.