Afghan boy hides in plane wheel well during Kabul-Delhi flight
13-year-old’s near two-hour ride in the wheel well of a Kabul-to-Delhi flight highlights security risks and the dangers of stowaways
A 13-year-old Afghan boy snuck onto a plane and hid in the wheel well during a roughly two-hour flight from Kabul to Delhi, authorities said. The boy was later found after the flight landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, where airline staff turned him over to security. He was aboard a KAM Air flight RQ-4401.
Officials said the boy slipped past Kabul airport’s restricted area and followed a group of passengers to reach the aircraft, where he wedged himself into the hollow space that houses the landing gear when it retracts. The wheel well is cramped and cold, and it is designed to be uninhabitable at cruising altitude. The boy reportedly hoped to travel to Iran.
Delhi-bound flight landed around 11 a.m. local time. Airline personnel spotted the boy wandering near the aircraft after landing and alerted the Central Industrial Security Force, which detained him and escorted him to Terminal 3 for questioning.
The boy told investigators that he entered the wheel well out of curiosity and did not fully understand the risks involved. A CISF officer told Hindustan Times that the boy had managed to sneak onto the airport and onto the aircraft without detection.
He was returned to Afghanistan on the same plane, which departed the airport soon after landing. Experts note that wheel-well stowaways face extreme cold, oxygen deprivation, and other hazards; most attempts are fatal, though this case did not end with serious injuries.
Not an isolated case: In a separate, unrelated instance, a 57-year-old Russian stowaway named Svetlana Dali boarded a Paris-bound flight at JFK by bypassing two identity verification and boarding-status checkpoints during a busy Thanksgiving period, according to a TSA briefing obtained by The Post. The case illustrates how large crowds and fatigue among airport staff can create opportunities for skipped checks.
Security officials say the incident underscores security vulnerabilities and will prompt review of screening and perimeter controls at Kabul's airport and other at-risk facilities.
