An unidentified 22-year-old Kenyan stowaway who somehow made it from South Africa to the Netherlands has been recognized. Now hospitalized, he has applied for asylum in the Netherlands. The man was found alive and well in the cargo hold of a Cargolux Boeing 747 freighter at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. Fortunately, he was conscious and able to interact with rescuers.
In Amsterdam, a 22-year-old Kenyan man was found alive in a plane’s wheel area, and Dutch military police have confirmed this. He is a patient at a hospital, where he is conscious and able to communicate. A stopover in Nairobi would have extended the flight time from Johannesburg to Amsterdam by nearly one hour and a half.
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According to Dutch authorities, the 22-year-old Kenyan stowaway was discovered in the cargo plane’s wheel well after it flew from South Africa to the Netherlands. Police in Amsterdam said in a statement that they found the man hiding after the jet landed at Schipol Airport on Sunday. The man’s identification was not published. In light of the circumstances, the police stated that “The man is doing well considering the circumstances and has been taken to a hospital.”
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He was found aboard a Cargolux freight flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Amsterdam, through Nairobi, Kenya. Whether he was in South Africa or Kenya, Dutch police are looking into it. A military police spokesperson said- “It is expected he will apply for asylum in the Netherlands, but his medical treatment is the priority at the moment.”
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The cold and low oxygen levels at high altitudes make it extremely difficult for stowaways to make it through long-haul flights. Only two of the seven stowaways detected on Dutch planes in the last five years were still alive. Stowaways on planes to the Netherlands are extremely unusual, according to Helmonds, who noted that earlier attempts involved would-be migrants from Nigeria and Kenya. A Nigerian man’s body was discovered in the landing gear of a jet at Schiphol airport last year.
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The plane was a Boeing 747 cargo jet originally from Johannesburg, South Africa. According to the flight-tracking website’ Flight Aware’, the jet made pauses before heading to Amsterdam in Zimbabwe and Kenya.
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A Boeing 747 flies at 550 mph at the height of slightly over 35,000 feet. At 35,000ft, the average temperature is roughly -54C, with around 25% less oxygen in the air than at sea level, making it extremely difficult for a stowaway to survive. Hypoxia, frostbite, hypothermia, and many other ailments can come from this.
In addition to the risk of being crushed by the landing gear as it retracts after takeoff, those attempting to hold onto the undercarriages of aircraft are at the risk of plummeting to their deaths if the landing gear is deployed.
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It’s isn’t known if the man entered the landing gear in Kenya or South Africa. According to FlightAware’s statistics, the plane remained above 30,000 feet for the whole of the journey. Joanna Helmonds, a spokesperson for the Dutch Royal Marechaussee, a national police force, said- “This is definitely very unusual that someone was able to survive the cold at such a height – very, very unusual.”
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After the stowaway man applied for asylum in the Netherlands, the police began investigating his travel as a probable case of human smuggling. Stowaways have already endangered their lives in order to gain entry into other countries in the world. During a flight from Guatemala to Miami in November 2021, a man hid in the wheel well and survived the chilly conditions.
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According to Robert Van Kapel, the spokesman for the Dutch military police, the investigation is currently underway into human trafficking and unlawful border crossings. The Dutch police are also in communication with Kenyan contacts.
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His identity has now been confirmed following his application for refuge in the Netherlands. He has now been transferred to the immigration office, which will handle his case. A Dutch police spokeswoman called the stowaway’s survival “extraordinary” in a recently released statement. The stowaway man was able to tolerate the cold at such a high altitude which is truly a remarkable feat.
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When a plane from Guatemala landed in Miami in November last year, a 26-year-old stowaway was found hiding in the plane’s landing gear. People tried to stow away aboard a US military aircraft during the US departure from Afghanistan last year, but several of them died by falling to their deaths as the planes took off from Kabul airport.
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