NEW DELHI: In a daring but reckless act, a 13-year-old boy from Afghanistan clandestinely stowed away on a flight to India on Sunday by hiding in the rear wheel well of an aircraft.
The teenager survived the 94-minute journey and ‘landed’ safely at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport in stable physical condition, four sources familiar with the incident told this newspaper.
The incident occurred on flight RQ4401, operated by Afghanistan’s KAM Air.
According to flightradar24.com, the Airbus A340 departed Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul at 8:46 am IST and landed at Terminal 3 at 10:20 am. A security source said the boy, clad in a kurta and pyjama, intended to sneak into Iran but boarded the wrong flight. The teenager admitted to tailgating passengers at Kabul airport to access the flight, then hid in the wheel well during boarding. “This raises serious concerns about the security screening processes at Kabul airport,” the source noted.
The incident came to light when a ground handler at T3 taxiway spotted the boy walking in the restricted apron area, after the flight landed and passengers had disembarked. He alerted authorities.
The Central Industrial Security Force took the boy into custody, and later handed him over to airport police. As a minor, the boy is immune from legal charges, a source confirmed.
An aviation expert described the act as perilous, noting that survival outside the aircraft during flight is nearly impossible, while a doctor stressed on the improbability of surviving such extreme conditions.
Aviation expert Captain Mohan Ranganathan explained how the boy could have survived: “After takeoff, the wheel bay door opens, the wheel retracts, and the door closes. He likely entered this enclosed space, which may have been pressurized, maintaining a temperature similar to the passenger cabin. He could have clung to internal structures to survive.”
Without such conditions, survival at 30,000 feet, where temperatures plummet, would be impossible, he added.
Dr Ritin Mohindra, associate professor at PGIMER, Chandigarh, echoed this view, stating, “Above 10,000 feet, oxygen levels drop significantly, causing unconsciousness within minutes and death as the plane reaches cruising altitude. Temperatures between -40°C and -60°C would cause frostbite in under a minute and fatal hypothermia soon after.”
Globally, only one in five wheel well fliers survive
Survival for wheel well stowaways are exceptionally rare due to hypoxia (oxygen deprivation), hypothermia, frostbite, and mechanical hazards like being crushed by retracting gear or falling during landing. Globally, 1 in 5 of all attempts surive.
Only second such instance at Indian airports
Sunday’s stowaway incident appears to be only the second recorded instance at an Indian airport. On October 14, 1996, brothers Pradeep Saini (22) and Vijay Saini (19) stowed away on a Boeing 747 flight of British Airways from Delhi to London. Randeep survived while Vijay was found dead when the flight reached Heathrow airport.