A Man Stowed Away On A Plane Wheel & He Survived A Flight From Africa To Amsterdam
He somehow managed to hang on and stay alive!
A man stowed away in the wheel section of a flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam this month, and he miraculously survived a journey that has proven deadly to many others.
The stowaway was found on a cargo flight that departed from South Africa and travelled to the Netherlands after a quick stop in Kenya.
When the man was found at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, he was still breathing and was given immediate medical attention.
By the time the ambulance arrived on the scene, his body temperature had been increased, and he was able to speak enough to answer basic questions, according to The BBC.
It's unclear whether the man boarded the flight from South Africa or jumped on in Kenya. His nationality and age have not been disclosed as of yet.
It's a surprising tale of survival because people who pull such stunts rarely survive. The wheel section of a plane is not insulated or pressurized, so the man would've faced extreme cold and low oxygen levels at high altitudes.
Just in the past five years, seven stowaways have been found by Dutch authorities, and only two have survived, according to The New York Times.
Robert van Kapel, a spokesperson for the Dutch military police, said that they are going to investigate the man's case and determine if he was trying to cross borders illegally or if this is a case of human smuggling.
"We want to know who he is, where he came from, how he got onto the plane, and how he was able to survive," said van Kapel.
A lot of the time, the stowaways either fall to their death or freeze to death, according to a U.S. government study on stowaways.
The temperatures at altitudes as high as 40,000 feet can drop to -65 degrees Celsius, so surviving that is extremely rare.
The stowaway was found on a flight operated by Cargolux Italia, as confirmed by an email from the freight company to Reuters.