A stowaway who hid in the front wheel section of a cargo plane miraculously survived an 11-hour flight from South Africa to the Netherlands.
Dutch military police said that man was found after he had squeezed into the wheel section below the fuselage.
He was found “doing well” despite the arduous journey after arriving at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Sunday, Jan. 23.
Border control officers said in a statement: “The man is doing well considering the circumstances and has been taken to a hospital.”
National police force Marechausse spokeswoman Joanna Helmonds said the man’s age and nationality had not yet been determined.
“Our first concern of course was for his health,” she said.
“This is definitely very unusual that someone was able to survive the cold at such a height – very, very unusual.”
A spokesperson for freight carrier Cargolux confirmed that the stowaway had been on a flight operated by Cargolux Italia.
“We are not in a position to make any further comment until the authorities and the airline have completed their investigation,” they said.
The only Cargolux freight flight arriving at Schiphol on Sunday was a Boeing 747 freighter that travelled from Johannesburg and made a stop in Nairobi, Kenya, according to Schiphol’s website and flight tracking data.
A spokesperson for the airport declined to answer questions about the incident, according to Reuters.
It comes after another man survived a gruelling flight while hiding in the landing gear.
On November 27 last year a man was found alive and well after stowing away in the landing gear of a plane traveling from Guatemala to Miami
