Lyon - A young African who survived a flight from Dakar to Lyon hidden in the landing gear of an Airbus has asked France for asylum. Doctors described his survival as a near miracle.
The stowaway was unconscious and "in bad shape" after the January 17th landing of the Air Afrique Airbus A-300. He was dressed only in a T-shirt and jeans.
Currently convalescing in hospital, he has surprised the French medical world by surviving the rare ordeal of extreme cold and lack of oxygen. "A human being only has a 20 per cent breathing capacity at 9,000 metres," said Dr Hugues Chardonnet, a specialist in hypoxia, the condition resulting from a lack of oxygen supply to the body. Ironically, Dr Chardonnet speculated he may have been saved by hypothermia which "would have protected his brain that no longer needed oxygen. This is often the case with avalanche victims who can be revived after several hours if their body temperature is not too low."
French officials said the reasons for his desperate bid to leave Senegal remained a mystery.