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Yet another deceased stowaway was
discovered on an Arik Air flight at the
Oliver Tambo Airport in Johannesburg,
South Africa on Wednesday.
The unidentified stowaway was found
dead inside the wheel well of the Airbus
A330-200 aircraft.
The flight had departed the Murtala
Muhammed International Airport
(MMIA) in Lagos on Tuesday at 3:55 pm
and arrived in Johannesburg at 11 pm
that night.
A statement by the spokesperson of Arik
Air, Mr. Ola Adebanji, disclosed that the
engineers of the South African Airways
Technical facility at the Oliver Tambo
International Airport discovered the
body of the stowaway during the
inspection phase of a routine
maintenance check on Tuesday.
He said that investigations were ongoing
to determine how the stowaway found
his way into the aircraft’s main wheel
well from the Lagos airport.
A source close to MMIA told Sahara
Reporters Aproko that it is not
uncommon to find stowaways on planes
departing from the airport, as some
desperate Nigerians connive with
security operatives at the airport to get
access to restricted areas of the facility.
The source said that the stowaway may
have gained entrance into the airport
through the Shasha area of the airport at
night and hid himself in the wheel well
of the aircraft, hoping to travel
successfully to any overseas country.
Just recently, a stowaway was found on a
Med-View Airline aircraft destined for
Accra, Ghana.
The stowaway, a man in his 20s, had
successfully hid himself in the tire
compartment of the aircraft, which was
ready for taxiing from the international
wing of the airport, before he was
spotted by the pilot who was carrying out
a final inspection of the aircraft before
departure.
The pilot immediately raised the alarm
and called the attention of the security
officials at the airport who immediately
swung into action, arrested the man and
handed him to the police station at the
domestic airport.
The suspect allegedly confessed that he
had been hiding around the airport for
two weeks trying to achieve his goal of
travelling out of the country by all
means.
He confessed during investigation that he
attempted to stowaway out of
desperation to leave the country for
another one in search of greener
pastures.
In a related case, a suspected stowaway
was found dead in the belly of an Arik
Air aircraft at the same airport. The
deceased stowaway was discovered
during the routine inspection of the
United States bound aircraft.
Before then, there were no fewer than
four stowaway incidents recorded on
Arik Air jets.
It would be recalled that in October
2012, a stowaway entered the
undercarriage of an Arik Air aircraft to
New York from MMIA with the alleged
aide of some security personnel and
ground handling companies at the
airport.
The unidentified stowaway later died and
was discovered when the aircraft
returned to Nigeria from New York by its
personnel conducting routine checks in
Lagos. Local medicine and a Bible were
found on him.
Again, on the same airline on August 24,
2013 at Benin Airport, a 13-year-old
stowaway, identified as Daniel Oikhena,
hid under the undercarriage of the
aircraft from Benin to Lagos.
Information gathered revealed that the
boy thought the plane was on its way to
the United States, but unfortunately for
him, the aircraft landed in Lagos and he
was immediately apprehended at the
airside of the airport by security
personnel.
In 2013 alone, no fewer than five
stowaway incidents were recorded in the
nation’s airports.
