Posted on 09/25/2007 4:18:21 PM PDT by George from New England
MOSCOW, September 24 (RIA Novosti) - A 15-year-old boy from the Urals suffered acute frostbite after riding the wing of a Boeing-737 plane on a two-hour flight from Perm to Moscow, Russian radio station Mayak reported on Monday.
After clinging on for the entire 1300-kilometer (808-mile) flight to Vnukova Airport, the boy, named Andrei, collapsed onto the tarmac. His arms and legs were so severely frozen that rescuers were at first unable to remove his coat and shoes, the radio station said.
The airport did not confirm the report. "We have no information on this," the Vnukovo press service told RIA Novosti.
However, Moscow's air and water transport control department said the radio's claim was true. A department spokesman said the incident occurred on Friday, and that the boy's parents were immediately informed, and flew to the capital the same day.
Doctors said it was nothing short of a miracle that Andrei survived the flight, with temperatures hitting minus 50 degrees Celsius (-58 Fahrenheit), the radio station said. The Boeing-737 has a cruising speed of 900 kmh (560 mph).
The boy reportedly made the journey after a commonplace domestic dispute. Angry with his father, who reportedly has a drinking problem, and with his mother for siding with her husband in family rows, Andrei ran away to the neighboring village, where his grandmother lives. On reaching the village, he decided to go on, and hitched a 220-km (137-mile) ride to the regional center, Perm, where he was dropped off at the airport.
It remains unclear how Andrei was able to climb on a plane wing un-noticed, and the Perm Airport security service is being asked some serious questions, the radio station said.
Andrei is now being treated in a Moscow hospital, Radio Mayak said.
Hey in the Urals -58 degrees F is balmy. ;) It’s the windchill that got him.
Update in post #141.
Wow EveningStar.
Many folks have been saying that was really the case.
Well they probably got one thing right - dad had a vodka problem. The reporter probably fell down a few times before reaching the phone, you know those Ruskies!
[Queue referee's whistle] Loud whistle!
Five yard penalty, Novosti for unadulterated bullsh@t. Fourth down.
5.56mm
I can’t visualize any part of a 737 wing that one might be able to hang onto at 500 MPH.
“Andrei Shcherbakov, was taken back to Perm after a Moscow clinic refused to continue treating him, despite the severity of his injuries.”
Ahhhhh, the joys of socialized medicine!
The mixup between wing and wheel-well might have been an issue of translation loss - the Russian word for "wing" as in the wings of a theater (кулисы - kulisih (?)) is similar to the Russian word for wheel (колесо - kohlyesa (?)).
In the same sense they confused wing with wheel, they might be simply talking about cessation of heroic measures.
Good point. A lot can be lost in translation.
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