A smuggler was found in the landing gear of a Cargolux cargo plane that landed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport from South Africa.
On the 22nd, the local police issued a statement saying, “A man of unknown identity and nationality was found outside the plane.” “The man was transported to the hospital immediately after discovery.”
The stowaway is said to have survived several hours of flight while hiding in the wheels. The police were surprised, saying, “It is a miracle that I was able to overcome the cold at such a high place.” At an airplane cruising altitude of 9,300m, the outside temperature drops to minus 60 degrees Celsius.
This isn’t the first time a smuggler who sneaked into a landing gear has saved his life. A living smuggler was found in the landing gear of American Airlines Flight 1182, which landed at Miami International Airport last year.
However, this is a very risky method. Former American Airlines pilot Wayne Giscal said: “When you hide in an airplane landing gear, you usually lose consciousness from a lack of oxygen or hypothermia. Then, when the device works, most of them fall out of the plane and die.”
In Afghanistan, which has recently been controlled by the Taliban, some Afghans have escaped desperately by hiding in airplane landing gear, but most were found dead.
According to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a total of 129 smugglers were caught hiding in airplane landing gear from 1947 to last year, and about 78% of them, or 100, were killed.
YTN PLUS Jeong Yun-ju (younju@ytnplus.co.kr)
[저작권자(c) YTN & YTN plus 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]
