To stowaway on the plane is a horrible idea because your body cannot withhold extreme cold and low oxygen level and unless you manage to hide into the cabin somehow, you have less than 25 percent to survive. Here are some of the stowaways who managed to miraculously endure those conditions.
10. Mario Steven Ambarita
Mario Ambarita was a young man who wanted to meet the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, who lived in Jakarta. In order to go to Jakarta, he spent years studying how a plane takes off and lands, and he finally decided to hide in a wheel well which is a really small compartment. He climbed the eight-foot security fence at the airport and waited for the plane to kick off. In the small compartment on the plane, Ambarita spent two hours in sub-zero temperatures and thin air, and when the plane landed, he just collapsed, and he was rushed to the hospital. Luckily, he made it and spent only one night in jail.
9. Yahya Abdi
In order to get back from America to Somalia, a 15-year-old Yahya Abdi decided to stowaway. He was unsatisfied with his life in the US, he had problems in school, and he missed his mother, who was dead according to his father. But the truth was that she lived in a refugee camp in Ethiopia. Abdi also hid into the wheel well of the plane where he lost consciousness, and when the plane landed, he was hospitalized and luckily after some time he recovered completely. He even spoke to his mom for the first time in eight years.
8. Bas Wie
In 1946 Wie was a 12-year old orphan who worked at the airport for food, and he wanted to go to Australia in search for better life. He managed to sneak into the wheel carriage, and after three hours it took the plane to reach an Airport in Australia, Wie was exhausted and had a cut on his shoulder, but after several months in the hospital, he recovered from his injuries. Twelve years later, he became an Australian citizen after a long fight with the immigration policy and paperwork.
7. Fidel Maruhi
A poor man, Fidel Maruhi, lived in Tahiti, and he wanted to turn his life around and start over in Paris. Because he was living on the breadline, he had to stowaway in the wheel well of an airplane and just after five minutes of the flight he fainted because of low oxygen level. His body was found in Los Angeles with the temperature of 79 degrees, covered in grease and almost dead. However, they rushed him to the hospital where he was under heat lamps that saved his life, but he was deported to Tahiti as soon as he got better.
6. Andrei Shcherbakov
At the age of fifteen, Andrei Shcherbakov wanted to get away from his drunken father and dysfunctional family, so he went to the airport, sat on a tire of a plane, but he fell asleep. He woke up high in the air, and as soon as he realized where he was, he fainted. He collapsed when the plane arrived at the destination, but his hands and feet were frostbitten and swollen, and doctors had difficulties to remove his clothes. Both of his hands were amputated after he was transported back to a local hospital in Perm since his family couldn’t afford an expensive treatment in Moscow.
5. Armando Socarras Ramirez
Armando Socarras Ramirez was seventeen in 1969 Cuba, and he was afraid of being drafted, so he wanted a better life for himself. He and Jorge Perez-Blanco boarded the separate wheel wells of a plane, which was heading to Madrid. After one hour of being crammed in the small space, Ramirez passed out, and his frozen body was taken to the hospital as soon as the plane landed. According to doctors, he survived with “luck, luck, luck – many tons of luck” and after that he went on to Canada to live with his relatives. His friend Blanco probably fell out when the plane lowered its wheels to land and died.
4. Emilio Dominguez
Dominguez wanted to leave his life in Honduras and go to the US, so he found a plane that headed to Miami. In the wheel well of a plane, he shivered for two hours since he was only wearing a short-sleeve shirt, jeans, and boots. When the plane landed, he tried to run away since he was fit and in shape, but he was seen and turned over to the police. Dominquez was in good condition, and he was sent back to his country after a few days.
3. Victor Alvarez Molina
Victor Alvarez Molina was an Airline worker who was warned by his wife to leave Cuba immediately. He tucked himself into a wheel well of a plane that was flying to Montreal, he carried a photo of his daughter and hopes for better life. Luckily for Molina, he was near a leaky heat pipe which helped him survive. When he made it to Montreal, he was suffering from hypothermia, but he survived and managed to stay in Canada, find a job and take French lessons, and reports say that Victor waits for his family to arrive.
2. Osama R.M. Shublag
Osama R.M Shublag was in Malaysia on a social visit visa which expired, and he sought political asylum but was rejected. He boarded the nose wheel well of an airplane to try to reach Singapore and luckily for him, the ride only lasted for 55 minutes. The plane wasn’t flying really high because it was a short trip and when it landed Shublaq was dizzy, but fine otherwise. He was deported back to Malaysia from where he was sent back to Palestine.
1.Charles McKinley
Charles McKinley broke up with his girlfriend and having no money at all and being in debt, he wanted to return home to his parent. It was a 1,500-mile trip, and all he had was a UPS charge card from his job. He squeezed into a large wooden crate, but before that, he called UPS and scheduled a pickup. He was picked up one hour after the call, and he was put on a pressurized hold. If the crate had been placed in an unpressurized hold, he would have died for sure. McKinley was outside the box during the flight, and he slipped into it before the landing. He was delivered to his family’s home, but the slats of wood he had put there fell out, and he was discovered. They called the police that feared it might be the terrorist in there. It turned out he was only a man without money, and he got four months of house arrest and a $1,500 fine.
