On Sunday, a 13-year-old Afghan boy named Faizal made an incredible and life-threatening journey disguised within the landing gear compartment of a Kam Air flight from Kabul to Delhi.
Found Barefoot on the Taxiway
Ground crew at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) saw the youngster about 10:40 am. He was wandering barefoot and confused near the plane. He had blisters on his feet, his clothing were dirty, and he only had a few pills and a small Bluetooth speaker with him.
Officials said that Faizal had climbed inside the wheel well of Kam Air flight RQ 4401 and lived during the 90-minute flight at 30,000 feet, where it was frigid and there wasn’t much oxygen.
Survival Against All Odds
Faizal said during questioning (with help from the Afghan crew to translate) that the severe heat made his shoes melt against the tires when they took off, and he relied on his pheran and jacket to keep warm. He thought that the heat left behind from the tires helped him survive the cold as the plane soared.
Aviation experts said that his escape was “very unusual but not unheard of,” since wheel-well stowaways normally die from lack of oxygen or hypothermia.
Alert and Return to Home by Multiple Agencies
The revelation led to a response from several agencies, including immigration, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the Intelligence Bureau (IB), and the Union home and external affairs ministries.
Afghan officials confirmed the boy’s identity after checking it for almost three hours. At 4:00 PM, Faizal flew back to Kabul on Kam Air aircraft RQ 4402. This time, he was safely inside the cabin.
Incidents Around the World
Experts said that comparable scenarios generally end in disaster.
Two males were found dead in the wheel well of a JetBlue flight from the Dominican Republic to Florida in January 2024.
An Algerian teenager was found in bad shape in December 2023 after flying from Oran to Paris.