An Afghan man managed to evade multiple checks at Vienna International Airport and snuck onboard a Hainan Airlines flight to China, where he was only discovered when the plane was well on its way to its destination of Shenzhen, an 11-hour, 8,680 KM flight away from the Austrian capital.
Officials have not revealed the exact date of the recent incident, but officials at Vienna-Schwechat Airport, as well as the local police department and public prosecutor’s office, have confirmed that an investigation has got underway.
A spokesperson for the airport has stressed that the stowaway was subject to the same security screening as any other passengers so the risk of him taking anything prohibited onboard the flight is extremely small.
Nonetheless, there are questions that need to be answered about how the man was allowed into the security checkpoint in the first place, given the fact that he did not have a boarding pass.
So far, officials believe that the stowaway managed to get past the passport control for non-Schengen zone departures by clinging onto a large family group and disguising himself amongst the legitimate travelers.
The stowaway then managed to sneak past the gate agents and onto the plane, where he promptly hid in an onboard bathroom. The man went unnoticed by the cabin crew until the aircraft had already departed and was already a fair distance into the flight.
By this point, it was too late to return to Vienna, so Hainan Airlines flight HU-790 carried onto Shenzhen where he was handed over to the police. Chinese authorities promptly had the man deported and sent back to Vienna, where he was arrested and interviewed by the police.
Despite the man’s ability to evade border controls and escape Austria, he has since been released on bail.
The incident occurred just a few months after a Russian stowaway managed to sneak onboard a Delta Air Lines from New York JFK and was only discovered as the plane was in the final hour of its transatlantic flight to Paris.
In that incident, the female stowaway also hid in the onboard lavatories for the duration of the flight until the cabin crew eventually became suspicious and challenged her to present her boarding pass.
Just weeks later, Delta flight attendants successfully foiled a stowaway attempt by an unticketed suspect who attempted to evade gate agents and sneak onboard a Honolulu-bound flight from Seattle Tacoma International Airport on Christmas Eve.
Flight attendants are meant to check the onboard restrooms for stowaways and passengers prior to departure, although not every airline requires the lavatories to be locked off during taxi and takeoff.
