Afghan teen survives flight to Delhi by hiding in aircraft wheel well
New Delhi: In a rare and harrowing incident, a 13-year-old Afghan boy survived a flight to India by hiding in the rear wheel well of an aircraft, The New Indian Express has reported.
The teenager, who reportedly intended to sneak into Iran, mistakenly boarded a flight to Delhi on Sunday. He survived the 94-minute journey and landed safely at Indira Gandhi International Airport in stable physical condition, sources told The New Indian Express.
The flight, RQ4401 operated by Afghanistan’s KAM Air, departed Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul at 8:46 am IST and landed at Delhi’s Terminal 3 at 10:20 am. According to sources who spoke to The New Indian Express, the boy tailgated passengers at Kabul airport to access the plane and hid in the wheel well during boarding.
“This raises serious concerns about security screening processes at Kabul airport,” a source told The New Indian Express.
The stowaway was discovered after landing when a ground handler spotted him walking in the restricted apron area. The Central Industrial Security Force took him into custody and later handed him over to the airport police. As a minor, he is not subject to legal charges, officials told The New Indian Express.
Experts described the act as extraordinarily dangerous. Aviation specialist Captain Mohan Ranganathan explained to The New Indian Express that the boy may have survived because he entered an enclosed, pressurized section of the wheel bay, which maintained a temperature similar to the passenger cabin.
Dr. Ritin Mohindra, associate professor at PGIMER, Chandigarh, told The New Indian Express that survival at such altitudes is highly unlikely, given the risk of hypoxia, frostbite, and fatal hypothermia.
Globally, only one in five wheel well stowaways survive such journeys due to oxygen deprivation, extreme cold, and mechanical hazards. Sunday’s incident appears to be only the second recorded wheel well stowaway case at an Indian airport. The first occurred on October 14, 1996, when brothers Pradeep (22) and Vijay Saini (19) attempted to stow away on a British Airways flight from Delhi to London; only Pradeep survived.
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Trump says he ‘hasn’t even thought about’ continuing Iran ceasefire
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he has not yet considered whether he would continue the ceasefire involving Iran, while also claiming the United States holds the advantage in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was prepared to make a deal with “whoever is running the show” in Iran.
“They are fighting with each other, there’s tremendous infighting. They’re probably fighting for leadership in many cases. I think they’re fighting not to be leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders,” he said.
Trump added, “When they want they can call me. We have all the cards, we’ve won everything.”
Referring to ongoing negotiations, he said, “They gave us a paper that should’ve been better. And, interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it [envoy trip to Pakistan], within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better.”
“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple … They offered a lot, but not enough,” he added.
When asked whether he would continue the ceasefire, Trump replied, “I haven’t even thought about it.”
The remarks come as uncertainty remains over the future of the temporary truce and broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
