Airplane stowaway in serious condition in Paris

A stowaway was discovered alive, but in critical condition, in the undercarriage bay of an Air Algeria airplane at Paris Orly airport on the morning of December 28, according to a security source briefed on the situation by Reuters. The individual was in a life-threatening condition and was receiving medical treatment at a nearby hospital.

The aircraft originated from Oran, a western Algerian town just a two-and-a-half hour flight from Paris.

Stowaways hidden in the wheel-houses and cargo holds of planes can endure temperatures as low as minus 50 Celsius (minus 58 Fahrenheit) to minus 60 Celsius (minus 76 Fahrenheit) and have limited access to oxygen due to the lack of pressurization.

In 2019, a suspected stowaway fell from a plane flying above southwest London, landing in a homeowner's garden while narrowly missing a man who was sunbathing.

In 2015, a stowaway on a British Airways flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow landed on a shop in Richmond, southwest London. Another stowaway survived the 10-hour flight and was discovered in the plane's undercarriage.