Indonesian stowaway arrested after hiding in jet landing gear at Penang airport

GEORGE TOWN - An Indonesian stowaway has been arrested at the Penang International Airport after trying to fly home by hiding in the landing gear section of an airplane.

The unidentified man, 39, was spotted by a technician slipping out of the wheel well at 10am local time on Monday (May 13), the Bernama news agency reported on Tuesday.

The man, who would have risked getting crushed when the landing gear retracts after take-off or hypothermia at a high altitude, is under arrest for trespassing at the airport.

The poultry processing factory worker told officials he decided to stow away on the plane, as he could not afford to buy an air ticket back to Medan.

But he was lucky he did not embark on the dangerous journey home.

In February 2016, bloodstains on the fuselage of an American-owned cargo plane led workers at a Zimbabwe airport to the gruesome remains of a man crushed inside the lower compartment of the aircraft which was making a refuelling stop.

The man was believed to have sneaked into the landing gear opening at a previous stop and was crushed to death when the gear retracted after take-off.

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