The state Department of Transportation on Tuesday released security video from Kahului Airport that shows the California teenage stowaway dropping down from a Hawaiian Airlines jet’s wheel well after surviving a more than five-hour flight.
The video, shot April 20, shows the plane sitting at an airport gate when the boys legs appear from under the plane and he falls to the ground. He is soon seen wandering aimlessly around the plane until airport workers notice him.
DOT reissued an April 21 statement that described how the boy had been found walking on the tarmac just before 11:30 a.m. April 20. "The teen appeared disoriented and was questioned by a worker near the plane who alerted security," the statement said.
The 15-year-old boy, later identified as Somali immigrant Yahya Abdi, was taken to an Oahu hospital where he remained under state custody until last weekend, when he was flown back home to San Jose. He is being cared for by Santa Clara County Child Protective Services.
His father, Abdilahi Yusuf, who drives a taxi in San Jose, flew to Hawaii last week to bring his son home, but child welfare officials turned the boy over to their California counterparts.
Abdi, who lived in Santa Clara with his father, stepmother and siblings, had been unhappy in California and desperately missed his mother, according to those who know his family. School officials said he had been in the U.S. for about four years and speaks English as a second language.
Abdi’s mother, Ubah Mohammed Abdule, lives in a refugee camp in eastern Ethiopia and told the Associated Press that the boy longed to see her but his father told him she was dead.
Law enforcement agents in California want to question Abdi about how he climbed over a fence at San Jose International Airport, then got into the wheel well of a Boeing 767 and survived the flight at 35,000 feet despite the cold and a lack of oxygen.
Hawaii DOT officials provided no new information Tuesday but said, "Hawaii airport security includes multiple layers of security involving many agencies. While we cannot disclose details of our security operations, we can say that perimeter security includes foot patrols, vehicle patrols and video surveillance. Hawaii DOT Airports Division is continually working with our security partners including the FAA to improve operations and security."
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
