ISLAMABAD: An Afghan boy, just 13 years old, survived a dangerous journey hidden inside the landing gear compartment of a Kabul–Delhi flight before being deported back to Afghanistan on Sunday evening.
The teenager, from Kunduz province, slipped into the restricted area of Hamid Karzai International Airport and concealed himself in the rear wheel bay of Kam Air flight RQ-4401. The aircraft landed in Delhi after a 94-minute flight, BBC reported.
Airport staff spotted the boy wandering near the plane after arrival and immediately alerted security. He was detained and handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), who questioned him along with immigration officials and local police. He reportedly told authorities he had wanted to travel to Iran and mistakenly believed the aircraft was bound there.
A small red speaker was found in the wheel bay during a subsequent security sweep. After anti-sabotage checks, the plane was cleared for further operations.
Aviation safety experts described the incident as extraordinary, noting that commercial aircraft fly at altitudes of 30,000 feet, where oxygen is scarce and temperatures can fall to –50°C. “If he was inside the enclosed section when the landing gear retracted, he might have been shielded from fatal conditions,” aviation analyst Capt. Mohan Ranganathan told Indian media.
Globally, survival rates for wheel bay stowaways are extremely low. Data from the US Federal Aviation Administration shows that between 1947 and 2021, 132 people attempted such journeys, with only about 23 percent surviving.
India witnessed a similar case in 1996, when two brothers attempted to hide inside the landing gear of a British Airways flight from Delhi to London. One survived, while the other died during the journey.
BBC, quoting the Indian media said the boy sneaked into the Kabul airport, trailed a group of passengers, and stowed away in the aircraft’s rear wheel well — the internal compartment which houses the landing gear.
There have been recent incidents of stowaways hiding in flights to the US or Europe, often escaping their home countries. But very few of them make it out alive.
In 2022, a 22-year-old Kenyan man was found alive in the wheel well of a cargo plane in Amsterdam.
