A 13-year-old Afghan boy from Kunduz stunned authorities by surviving a flight from Kabul to Delhi hidden inside the rear landing-gear (wheel well) of a Kam Air aircraft. The flight RQ-4401 departed early Sunday morning and landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), New Delhi after approximately 94 minutes in the air.  Upon arrival, airport staff saw the boy on the taxiway near the aircraft and alerted security. He was taken into custody by CISF and immigration officials, questioned, and later repatriated to Afghanistan on the same day.

The boy carried only a small red audio speaker and explained he had accessed the airplane via Kabul airport “out of curiosity,” possibly intending to travel to Iran, but boarding the wrong flight .This episode evoked a much earlier incident from October 1996 involving two Indian brothers — Pradeep and Vijay Saini from Punjab — who tried a similar escape by stowing away in the wheel well of a British Airways flight from Delhi to London. In that case, Pradeep survived but Vijay tragically perished.

Experts note that surviving in the wheel well is extraordinarily rare due to extreme cold, lack of oxygen, and other dangers such as mechanical hazards. This incident raises serious questions about airport security and the desperation that drives young people to take life-threatening risks.