ABIDJAN, Jan 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A child stowaway found dead in the undercarriage of a plane that landed in Paris has been identified as a 14-year-old Ivorian schoolboy, the transport ministry said.
A statement named him as Ani Guibahi Laurent Barthelemy, born on Feb 5 2005 in Yopougon, a rundown district of Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s economic hub.
“His identity was confirmed by his parents,” the ministry said.
CCTV footage shows the child “clung onto the aircraft’s undercarriage as it was preparing for takeoff,” it said.
The plane, an Air France Boeing 777, took off late at night on Tuesday, arriving at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport early Wednesday after a flight lasting six and a half hours.
Investigators suspect the child died either from extreme cold – temperatures drop to about minus 50 degrees Celsius (-58 degrees Fahrenheit) at cruising altitudes of between 9,000 and 10,000 metres – or from asphyxiation.
The undercarriage on commercial jetliners is neither pressurised or heated.
Transport Minister Amadou Kone, quoted by the daily Fraternite Matin, said, “On the video, we see a person dressed in a T-shirt.
“We think he got access to the flight area by climbing over a wall. He then hid in bushes and clung on to the aircraft’s undercarriage during takeoff.”
The government says it is taking steps to beef up security at the airport, including the creation of a buffer zone around the facility. — NNN-AGENCIDES