Man Who Stowed Away Survives Flight as Stowaway From Africa to Amsterdam

A man flew inside the nose wheel of a cargo plane on a flight from Africa to Amsterdam and survived, according to police. 

The man has been identified as a 22-year-old from Nairobi, Kenya, according to the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, one of two national police forces in the Netherlands

"He has applied for asylum in the Netherlands," police said.

Authorities said they are investigating if the incident has any possible links to human smuggling.

The flight the man flew on was operated by Cargolux Italia and took off in Johannesburg, South Africa, before making a stop in Nairobi, according to reports.

Authorities believe the man entered the plane in Johannesburg. The flight was about 11 hours in total.

"Our first concern of course was for his health," Royal Dutch Military Police spokeswoman Joanne Helmonds said. "This is definitely very unusual that someone was able to survive the cold at such a height — very, very unusual."

She added that incidents such as this are rare, but there had been previous cases with other migrants from Nigeria and Kenya.

Border police found the body of a Nigerian man in the landing gear of a plane arriving at Schiphol airport last year.

In another case, an alleged stowaway fell to his death from a Kenya Airways plane in England.

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