Nigerian probe of stowaway claims

NIGERIAN authorities have launched an investigation into claims that a teenager survived 12 hours hidden in the wheel compartment of a plane between Lagos and London, an aviation official said yesterday.

The boy, said to be aged 15 or younger, was apparently discovered in the wheel compartment of a Med-View Airline Boeing 747 which made the round trip on Saturday.

“We are looking into the incident to find how it happened and to prevent a recurrence,” Sam Adurogboye, of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), said.

Adurogboye said the authorities were disturbed by the incident because of its implications for air safety.

Nigerian media quoted Med-View spokesman Oyibotha Obuke as saying the airline was cooperating with the relevant authorities.

How the teenager survived at an altitude of 9 754 metres (32 000 feet) was a mystery, Adurogboye said.

Hypoxia or oxygen deficiency normally sets in from about 3 000m (10 000 feet) and would quickly render a person unconscious.

Temperatures at that altitude plunge to -48°C, causing hypothermia.

But there have been previous examples of stowaways surviving in the wheel compartment of passenger jets.

An October 1996 report by the US Federal Aviation Administration, “Survival at High Altitudes: Wheel-Well Passengers”, documents five survivors between 1947 and 1993. Three of them were teenagers, one aged 13 and two aged 17.