A stowaway was discovered in critical condition with severe hypothermia after being found in the landing gear bay of an Air Algerie plane at Orly Airport in Paris. The unidentified man, believed to be in his 20s, was found by maintenance workers following the arrival of the flight from Oran, Algeria. Prosecutors informed AFP that the stowaway, who did not possess any identification, was alive but in a life-threatening state due to the extreme hypothermia he had suffered during the two-and-a-half-hour flight.

According to airport officials, stowaways who hide in the unpressurized wheel houses of planes face extremely harsh conditions, including temperatures as low as minus 58 to minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit, as well as a lack of oxygen at cruising altitudes exceeding 30,000 feet. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) revealed that between 1947 and 2021, a total of 132 people attempted to fly in the landing gear compartments of commercial planes. Shockingly, the FAA also reported a staggering 77% mortality rate for individuals attempting to stow away in this manner.

This incident follows a series of similar occurrences in recent years. In April, the lifeless body of a man was discovered in the gear well of an aircraft at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. The flight had originated from Toronto but had previously taken off from Nigeria. Additionally, four months prior to this incident, two stowaways were found dead in the landing gear bay of a flight that had traveled from Santiago, Chile, to Bogota, Colombia.

In 2019, a frozen body fell from a Kenya Airways plane flying over southwest London, narrowly missing a man who was sunbathing in his garden. This incident highlighted the grave risks that stowaways face when attempting to hide in the undercarriage of an aircraft. Similarly, in a chilling incident four years earlier, the body of a stowaway on a British Airways flight from Johannesburg to London's Heathrow Airport landed on a shop in Richmond, southwest of the capital. Astonishingly, another stowaway managed to survive the 10-hour flight and was discovered in the undercarriage of the aircraft.

These incidents serve as a stark reminder of the dangers associated with stowaway attempts. The extreme temperatures and lack of oxygen in the wheel houses and cargo holds of planes pose grave risks to those who choose to embark on such journeys. The identity and motives of the stowaway found at Orly Airport remain unknown, and authorities are expected to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident.