16-Year-Old Stowaway from LA Survives 5 Hours Inside Wheel Well of Hawaiian Airlines

Plane Landing Gear Wheel Well — An airport apron controller vehicle leads the way for an airplane during strike action by Lufthansa pilots at the Fraport airport in Frankfurt April 3, 2014. Lufthansa pilots were on strike for a second day on Thursday, grounding Germany's largest airline in a row over retirement conditions. The pilots announced a three-day stoppage earlier this week, leading Lufthansa to cancel 3,800 flights, or around nine out of ten flights planned for the period. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach (GERMANY - Tags: BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT TRANSPORT) April 3, 2014 Reuters

An airport apron controller vehicle leads the way for an airplane during strike action by Lufthansa pilots at the Fraport airport in Frankfurt April 3, 2014. Lufthansa pilots were on strike for a second day on Thursday, grounding Germany's largest airline in a row over retirement conditions. The pilots announced a three-day stoppage earlier this week, leading Lufthansa to cancel 3,800 flights, or around nine out of ten flights planned for the period. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach (GERMANY - Tags: BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT TRANSPORT) April 3, 2014

More than a story of another incident of security breach at an airport amid suspicions that the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 could possibly be linked to terrorism due to security breach, report of a 16-year-old stowaway from Los Angeles indicated an incredible story of survival akin to a miracle.

CNN reports that the male teen scaled the security fence of the airport in Los Angeles, crept inside the landing gear wheel well of a Boeing 767 Hawaiian Airlines and stayed there for five hours.

More details of the incident at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HxRsAPV7yg.

The temperature inside the cramped compartment was below zero and the stowaway was without oxygen while the aircraft was flying 38,000 feet.

While experts are questioning the veracity of his tale, video footage support his story as he is seen in surveillance camera footage climbing the fence of the San Jose International Airport, walking across the ramp toward the jet bound for Hawaii and crawling out of the left main gear area.

The teen from Santa Clara, who said he left home after an argument on Sunday morning, said he lost consciousness when the plane took off. He only regained consciousness an hour after the aircraft landed and was spotted by dumbfounded ground crew walking on the tarmac of the Kahului Airport in Maui, dazed and confused.

The FBI has been called to probe the incident, however, it said he would not be charged but instead referred to child protection services. The 16-year-old stowaway has been given medical attention and was found to be unharmed. He did not carry any identification card, only a comb inside his pocket.

There had been at least two similar incidents, but the stowaways were not as lucky as the teen from Santa Clara.

The first one involved a man whose body was found in February inside the landing gear wheel well of an Airbus A340 of South African Airways at the Dulles International Airport in Washington.

The second one happened in 2010, also a 16-year-old male stowaway who fell out of the wheel well of a U.S. Airways jet when it was landing at the Boston Logan International Airport.