Teen stowaway survives flight in landing gear

A 17-year-old stowaway survived a 50-minute flight hidden in the plane's landing gear, Russian investigators said today.

A statement released by the Investigative Committee said the teenager crawled into a space above the wheel of the Soviet-built An-24 at an airfield near the city of Irkutsk in Siberia on Saturday.

Russian television said he survived a 50-minute flight in just a light coat. Investigators said the stowaway had fled a foster home. The TV reports said he had robbed a nearby store before climbing inside the plane.

Earlier this year, a 20-year-old Romanian man survived a flight from Vienna to London in the landing gear of a Boeing 747.

In 2007, the body of a man was found near the runway of a Moscow airport. Officials said he had fallen when the landing gear was deployed.