A 13-year-old boy has somehow miraculously survived stowing away in a plane's landing gear. The teen traveled all the way from Afghanistan to India without incident.
According to the BBC, the teen hopped the flight in Afghanistan, hiding in the rear wheel well. He stowed away on a Kam Air flight as it left from Kabul. A native of Afghanistan, the 13-year-old withstood the elements and landed safely at Delhi's Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport on Sunday, Sept. 21.
It's not where the 13-year-old apparently wanted to go. He wanted to go to Iran instead. Mistakenly, he thought the flight was heading to Tehran. However, upon arrival, he realized that he was in Indian instead. Imagine his shock and surprise. But imagine the shock and surprise of the workers even more.
13-Year-Old Travels
He had somehow traveled 620 miles over a 90-minute flight. Workers first became suspicious after noticing the teen walking around the tarmac in his pajamas. They flagged the encounter as definitely odd. That report reached the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). Authorities ended up detaining the teen for questioning. Immigration Department officials realized what the 13-year-old did.
His stay in India wasn't long. They sent him back on the same plane to Afghanistan. This time hopefully he got a seat in the cabin rather than on the wheel.
"Upon inquiry, it turned out that he hid in the rear central landing gear compartment (rear wheel well) of the aircraft. He is from Kunduz city, Afghanistan," the CISF said in a statement, per the outlet. "Subsequently, an aircraft security check was conducted by the airline's security and engineering staff, during which a small red-coloured audio speaker was found in the rear landing gear area."
The 13-year-old is one of 132 people who have attempted to travel on the landing gear by stowing away. Normally, it ends tragically. Landing gear stowaways have a 77% mortality rate. Lack of oxygen and freezing temps lead to deaths. This is because that section of the plane is not pressurized. So the 13-year-old is lucky.
