Stowaway stays in the landing gear for eleven hours: "Unusual that someone survives at such a height"

Created: 01/24/2022, 13:42

By: Eric Sharp

A man is hiding in the landing gear area of ​​a Boeing 747 operated by Cargolux Italia.

(symbol photo) © Chromorange/Markus Mainka/Imago

A man is hiding in the undercarriage area of ​​a cargo plane.

At Amsterdam Airport, employees make the incredible discovery.

Frankfurt/Amsterdam – At first glance, nothing seemed unusual about the cargo plane that had just landed in Amsterdam.

But on closer inspection, the staff at Schiphol Airport made an incredible discovery.

A stowaway was hiding on the plane.

A spokeswoman for the airport in Amsterdam describes the fact that the man is still alive as "remarkable".

It is not yet clear who exactly this man is.

What is certain, however, is that he will go down in the history of the strangest stowaways.

Stowaway found unconscious and hypothermic at Amsterdam Airport

As the dpa news agency reported on Sunday (January 23, 2022), the man is said to have spent a flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam in the area of ​​the front landing gear of a Boeing 747.

The stowaway stayed in the cargo plane for around eleven hours.

He has been taken to a hospital unconscious with hypothermia and is in stable condition, border police at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport said.

According to Dutch media reports, the Cargolux Italia plane landed in Nairobi (Kenya).

Again and again stowaways in planes from Africa to Amsterdam

It was initially unclear where the man got into the undercarriage.

It was "unusual for someone to survive the cold at such an altitude," a spokeswoman told Der Spiegel.

According to initial information, the man is said to be between the ages of 18 and 30.

Again and again people from Africa would try to enter the Netherlands via this route.

The attempts usually end fatally.

Some fall to the ground, others die from hypothermia or lack of oxygen.

The body of a Nigerian man was found in the undercarriage of an airplane at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam last year, Der Spiegel reports.

Another stowaway caused chaos on a flight from Belgium to the United States.

(esa)