Stowaway Teen Said He Ran Away From Home After an Argument With Parents
April 22, 2014— -- The teenager who miraculously survived a five-hour journey in the unpressurized wheel well of a jetliner said he ran away from home because he was angry about an argument he had with his stepmother and his dad, an airport official in Hawaii who spoke with the boy told ABC News today.
Maui Airports District Manager Marvin Moniz said he spent some time with the stowaway on Sunday after an airport worker found the 15-year-old wandering the tarmac disoriented.
The teen told Moniz that he hadn't seen his biological mother since he was 2 years old and that he wanted to go see her. But it wasn't clear if that was the goal of the teen's daring journey from San Jose, Calif., Moniz said.
Airport surveillance video captured the stowaway -- wearing a hoodie, jeans and sneakers -- exiting the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines Boeing 767, which departed from San Jose and landed in Kahului, Maui, at about 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
"It's not a temperature controlled area so the fact that he was able to survive is a miracle," Moniz previously told ABC News.
After the flight was airborne, the boy passed out inside the wheel well, FBI officials said. When the plane landed after a 2,300-mile journey, the boy was still passed out and he did not come to for about an hour, the FBI said.
