A shocking security breach unfolded on Sunday morning when a 13-year-old Afghan boy was discovered at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport after surviving a two-hour flight from Kabul inside the landing gear compartment of a commercial aircraft. The incident, which raised serious concerns about aviation safety and airport security, involved KAM Air flight RQ-4401 that had departed from Kabul and landed in Delhi at approximately 11:00 am.
According to official accounts, the boy, a resident of Kunduz city in northern Afghanistan, managed to bypass security at Kabul airport and slip undetected into the restricted zone. From there, he climbed into the rear central landing gear compartment of the aircraft. Once the flight landed in Delhi, airline personnel were startled to see the teenager wandering near the aircraft, which immediately set off alarms.
The boy was quickly apprehended by the airline staff and handed over to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), who escorted him to Terminal 3 of the airport for questioning. During the initial inquiry, the teenager reportedly stated that he had entered the aircraft purely out of curiosity, without any awareness of the dangers of hiding in such a hazardous part of the plane.
Officials confirmed that after brief questioning, the boy was sent back to Afghanistan on the same aircraft, which departed Delhi around 12:30 pm. Before the return flight, KAM Airlines security teams conducted a comprehensive search of the landing gear compartment. In addition to carrying out anti-sabotage checks, they found a small red speaker believed to belong to the boy, further confirming his presence inside the compartment during the flight. Once all inspections were completed, the aircraft was cleared as safe for further operations.
While the boy miraculously survived the ordeal unharmed, the episode has underscored glaring lapses in security at Kabul airport. Experts have pointed out that stowaway attempts in landing gear compartments are extremely dangerous due to freezing temperatures, lack of oxygen, and moving mechanical parts, making survival highly unlikely in most cases. This rare case of survival, therefore, has sparked a mix of astonishment and alarm among aviation authorities, who are now likely to push for stricter checks and enhanced surveillance to prevent such incidents in the future.
