Stowaway survives 11-hour flight in wheel well from Africa to Europe
Written by ABC Audio All Rights Reserved on January 24, 2022
(AMSTERDAM) — A stowaway was found alive in the nose wheel well of a cargo airplane that traveled from South Africa to the Netherlands on Sunday, according to Dutch police.
Authorities discovered the man hiding after the plane landed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Sunday morning. He was taken to a hospital in stable condition, a Dutch police spokesperson told ABC News.
The man’s name has not been released. His age and nationality were unknown.
The freight flight flew 11 hours from Johannesburg to Amsterdam, with a stop in Nairobi. It was unclear whether the stowaway climbed into the aircraft’s landing gear in South Africa or in Kenya, the Dutch police spokesperson said.
An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
It’s unusual for stowaways to survive long flights, due to the cold temperatures and low oxygen levels at high altitudes.
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