The Dutch military police have confirmed a stowaway found alive in a plane’s wheel section in Amsterdam on Sunday is a 22-year-old Kenyan man.
He plans to apply for asylum in the Netherlands.
He is conscious and able to communicate, and currently receiving medical treatment in hospital.
The Cargolux freight flight he was found on flew from Johannesburg, South Africa, to the Dutch capital, via Nairobi in Kenya.
Dutch police are investigating whether he got on in South Africa or Kenya.
A spokesperson for the Dutch military police told the BBC: “It is expected he will apply for asylum in the Netherlands, but his medical treatment is the priority at the moment.”
It is very unusual for stowaways on long flights to survive, due to the cold and low oxygen at high altitudes.
In the past five years, seven stowaways have been discovered on planes in the Netherlands, only two of them were alive.
Flights from Johannesburg to Amsterdam take about 11 hours, and would have been longer with one stop in Nairobi.
