A 13-year-old Afghan boy has miraculously survived a perilous journey after flying from Kabul to Delhi. However, rather than flying in an allocated seat on the Kam Air Airbus A340, the teenager stowed away by hiding in the wheel well of the wide-bodied jet for the entire flight.
Afgan officials said the youngster, who reportedly originates from Kunduz city in northern Afghanistan, was discovered wandering around on the tarmac at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) after the plane landed from Kabul (KBL) on September 22, 2025.
The scheduled passenger flight (flight number RQ4401) was operated by one of Kam Air’s fleet of four Airbus A340-300s with registration marks YA-KME. According to data obtained from Flightradar24, the aircraft departed from Kabul Airport at 07:56 local time and landed one hour and 37 minutes later in Delhi at 10:33 local time.
Upon being discovered wandering around the tarmac in Delhi, the boy was detained by Indian security personnel before being taken in for questioning. He was reportedly subsequently deported on the return Kam Air flight back to Kabul (RQ4402), which departed Delhi at 12:47 the same day. According to local reports, the boy told officials in India that he had made the trip “out of curiosity.”
The boy advised the Indian authorities questioning him that he had hidden himself in the central landing gear compartment of the plane. The A340 has a pair of wheels on a single bogie located over the central fuselage between the wings to support the weight of the belly of the aircraft. It is in this wheel well that the boy alleges he hid.
However, The Indian Express newspaper reported that the 13-year-old wanted to travel to Tehran in Iran rather than Delhi, but had hidden in the wrong aircraft on the apron in Kabul. It was only when the airplane landed in India that he realized this was the case.
According to the newspaper, the boy sneaked into Kabul airport, trailed a group of passengers, and stowed away in the aircraft’s rear wheel well. Upon further inspection of the aircraft’s wheel wells at Delhi Airport, airport staff also discovered a small, red-coloured audio speaker belonging to the boy.
There have been numerous recent incidents of stowaways hiding on flights in recent years, often using the wheel well as their hiding place of choice. However, more often than not, such stowaways rarely survive the trip and are still alive when the plane reaches its destination. Often, such people are either escaping persecution in their home country or are seeking a better life elsewhere.
Most who attempt such journeys are either crushed by the landing gear upon retraction, the lack of oxygen, or succumb to hyperthermia due to the extremely low temperatures that large jet aircraft fly at. Even if they survive the journey, many stowaways die as they fall from the wheel well as the gear is lowered before landing.
However, this particular incident has called into question the boarding procedures and security at Kabul Airport and just how the teenager managed to access the wheel well of the A340 undetected.
