Nigerian teenager who flew to Lagos hiding in wheel cavity of plane was trying to reach the US

Teenage stowaway, Daniel Ihekina, who was arrested at Lagos Airport after flying in the wheel cavity of an Arik Air plane from Benin to Lagos on Saturday morning, thought he was on a US-bound flight.

Airport security arrested him following an alarm by passengers who saw him emerge from the undercarriage following the 45-minute  flight. A source at Benin Airport said the boy’s parents had already departed for Lagos in search of the stowaway.

The airport source, who did not want to be named said: “From what we heard, the boy said he was being maltreated and tried to escape from his parents. He thought he was on his way to the US. The parents have traveled to Lagos by road, to get him back.”

Airline spokesman Ola Adebanji said: "How he got through security is something for the authorities to investigate. He's lucky to have survived it. Not many people can do that and survive." He said that the plane only went up 21,000 feet because it was a short flight, increasing the boy's chances of surviving the thinner, colder air at high altitudes. Nigerian aviation authorities are now probing how he managed to hide inside the undercarriage of the plane.