Very Few Have Survived A Flight, Hiding In The Wheels Of An Aircraft, One Of Them Is An Indian

On Monday, the world watched in horror how many Afghans were trying to cling on to a US military jet that was about to take off from Kabul, in a desperate attempt to flee the country.

Another video also showed at least two men falling from the skies, from an aircraft.

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Apparently, they had tried to cling to the wheels of the flight to flee the Taliban, but they could not survive and fell to their deaths.

As shocking as it might sound, this is not the first time people have tried to travel on a flight, hiding inside the wheel well (landing gear compartment) of an aircraft.

And more often than not such attempts have ended in tragedies.

In fact, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration, between 1947 and 2015, there have been 113 documented cases of what is called stowaways, and 86 of them died.

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In most cases, they have fallen off the flights, crushed during the take-off or landing.

In other cases, they die of hypothermia and hypoxia at extremely cold temperatures and low atmospheric pressure at high altitudes.

One of them who survived the ordeal and was one of the first such cases to be reported globally was an Indian man by the name of Pardeep Saini.

In October 1996, Pardeep and his younger brother Vijay Saini hid the wheel bay of a British Airways Boeing 747 at New Delhi that was headed to London Heathrow.

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The brothers, who were car mechanics from Punjab tried to flee from India after they were accused of being members of a Sikh separatist group.

While 22-year-old Pradeep survived the 10-hour flight, 18-year-old Vijay did not.

His frozen body fell from the undercarriage as the plane prepared to land at Heathrow.

Despite facing temperatures of -60C and starved of oxygen, Pardeep managed to survive the 4,000-mile journey at up to 40,000ft.

According to doctors, Pradeep's body went into a state of suspended animation soon after take-off, which is like hibernation.

Pradeep who was found by the airline staff on the runway, in a confused state was initially taken to a detention center.

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He was later released and is now settled in London with his family and works at the Heathrow Airport.

Well into his 40s, Pradeep had in a 2019 interview said that the trauma of his first-ever flight still haunts him.

Pardeep has reported hearing issues, joint pain and depression, following the trauma of the journey and losing his brother.

"I was in a depression for six years. If the two of us died, then it's one thing, or if both of us lived, it's another story.

"But I lost my younger brother, he was like a friend to me. We grew up playing together," Pardeep told The Mail.