3 Kenyans Who Hanged on Plane Trying to Escape the Country

Kenya has been on the spot for infamous stowaways who captured global attention for going to extreme ends to flee the country.

While some stowaways have been able to get asylum in foreign countries, others have met their untimely death trying to escape Kenya.

Herein are three cases that shocked the world, as the stowaways went in search of greener pastures.

January 2022

Individuals at an airport lobby.File

An unnamed 22-year-old Kenyan captured the world’s attention in January 2022 when he hid in the nose wheel of a cargo plane flying from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.

The plane stopped in Nairobi, and investigators believed the Kenyan used that opportunity to escape.

Doctors could not believe how the young man survived for 11 hours with low oxygen concentration and freezing temperatures.

Once rescued from the cargo plane, the Kenyan applied for asylum in the Netherlands.

February 2021

Another 16-year-old boy, on February 2021, survived 8,000 kilometres of flight hidden on the plane’s landing gear.

The boy was found on the tarmac of Maastricht Aachen Airport in the Netherlands, having hidden on the plane when it made a stopover at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

It was unmatched resolve as the boy hanged on the plane as it crisscrossed three continents, making stopovers at Turkey and London.

2019

Entrance to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi.File

In 2019, a young man with a Kenyan link was not lucky to survive his escape plan from Kenya.

The unidentified youth dropped from a plane as it prepared to land at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Initial investigations detailed that the young man boarded the plane at Kenya but the findings were vehemently refuted by other authorities.

The plane's management announced that it could account for all its staff, and CCTV footage did not reveal any outsiders boarding the aircraft.

“A multiagency team conducting the investigation has reviewed more than 1000 hours of CCTV footage.

"No finding of intrusion or suspicious activity has been observed on the recordings,” the authority said in a statement.

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