Stowaway survives flight in jetliner’s wheel

Aviation authorities are questioning a man they suspect stowed away in the wheel well of a jetliner for a free flight in Indonesia, officials said yesterday.

Mario Stevan Ambarita, 21, survived a nearly two-hour flight at high altitude from Pekanbaru, Riau’s provincial capital, to the national capital, Jakarta. Ground crew found him wobbling out after the plane landed Tuesday at Sukarno-Hatta airport and rushed him to an airport clinic for treatment.

The Garuda Indonesia’s flight had departed from Pekanbaru’s Sultan Syarif Kasim airport and flown at an altitude of up to 40,000ft with freezing temperatures and low oxygen.