His legs dangle from the plane’s belly and he jumps down to the concrete below. He sits on the ground and then walks slowly to the front of the plane, wobbling. The 15-year-old Californian is tired: he’s been sitting in a jet’s wheel well in freezing temperature and low oxygen for nearly five-and-a-half hours.
Security footage recently released by the Hawaii Department of Transportation shows a teenaged Somali immigrant, Yahya Abdi, at the end of his unbelievable journey from California to Maui airport in the undercarriage of a Boeing 767.
Abdi ran away from home on April 20, jumping a fence at Mineta San Jose International Airport and climbing into the nearest plane. Remarkably he survived the flight at 35,000 feet.
Abdi is being cared for by Santa Clara County Child Protective Services after being flown back to California, and may face charges.
In the video, Abdi pauses briefly in the 40 seconds it takes him to get to the front of the plane, talking with an airport worker in a cart before the two walk away together.
[AP]
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