New Delhi: A 13-year-old boy from Kunduz in Afghanistan travelled to Delhi from Kabul in the wheel well of a KAM Air flight on Sunday. He was questioned by Indian authorities and has been sent back to Afghanistan.
The KAM Air flight – an Airbus A340 – landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi around 11 am on Sunday. Even as passengers deboarded, airline security personnel found a young boy loitering near the aircraft. On being questioned, he admitted that he was a stowaway.
“The boy was immediately handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel. An emergency meeting was convened and the boy was questioned. It was decided to send him back to Kabul after nothing suspicious was detected,” an official said.
The boy apparently told Indian officials that he was curious and had sneaked into the Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul on Sunday. He then went to an aircraft and got into the space where the wheels get stowed after retraction. A red-coloured speaker was found inside the compartment during a search.
“A thorough search of the aircraft was carried out, but there was nothing out of place. The boy was put on the return flight to Kabul (RQ 4402) that departed around 12.30 pm,” an official said.
Medical experts are wondering how the boy survived the 94-minute flight, despite severe Oxygen deprivation. The cruising altitude of civilian aircraft is 30,000 feet or more. At 30,000 feet, the Oxygen content in the air is a mere 6.9%, as compared to 20.9% on the ground.
“The boy must have endured extreme conditions. At 30,000 feet, the temperature could have dropped to -30 degrees Celsius. He had no warm clothing on and could have frozen. It is suspected that he lost consciousness due to the depleted Oxygen content in the air, till the aircraft descended.
A search of the internet reveals that the only other incident of this kind in 2025 took place in the US on January 7. Two teenagers sneaked into the wheel well of an Airbus A321 aircraft that was flying from New York To Florida. They never made it though. Their bodies were found after the plane landed at Fort Lauderdale.