Teenage stowaway survives flight across Pacific in jet wheel well Boy escapes unharmed despite losing consciousness after hiding in freezing conditions on flight from California to Hawaii A teenage runaway has survived a five-hour flight across the Pacific Ocean stowed away in the freezing wheel well of a jet plane. Officials said it was a miracle the 16-year-old boy did not die after he quickly lost consciousness as temperatures dropped to as low as -62C (-80F) in the compartment on the flight from California to Hawaii. He was discovered on the tarmac at Kahului airport in Maui, Hawaii, with no identification after jumping down from the wheel well and wandering around the airport grounds. He had run away from his family after an argument, officials said. Security footage from the San Jose airport, where the flight originated, showed that the boy hopped over a fence to get to Hawaiian Airlines flight 45 on Sunday morning. FBI special agent Tom Simon said: Its just an apparent miracle … There was no appearance of any special gear of any sort. He was unconscious for the lions share of the flight. Simon said the boy was medically screened and found to be unharmed. [He] doesnt even remember the flight, Simon said. Its amazing he survived that. The boy will not be charged and was referred to child protective services, he added. Hawaiian Airlines said airline personnel noticed the boy on the ramp after the flight arrived and immediately notified airport security. Our primary concern now is for the well-being of the boy, who is exceptionally lucky to have survived, it added. In August, a 13- or 14-year-old boy in Nigeria survived a 35-minute trip in the wheel well of a domestic flight after stowing away. Authorities credited the flights short duration. Others stowing away in wheel wells have died, including a 16-year-old killed after stowing away aboard a flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Boston in 2010 and a man who fell on to a suburban London street from a flight from Angola in 2012.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 09:04:43 +0000
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