Immigration Officials Take Custody of Jet Stowaway

Immigration officials on Monday took custody of the man who doctors say made an amazing recovery from the traumas of stowing away in the unpressurized and unheated wheel well of a jumbo jet during its flight last week from French Polynesia to Los Angeles.

After his four-day recovery from severe hypothermia and frostbite, the man was able to walk out of the UCLA Medical Center about 2 p.m. Monday, accompanied by Immigration and Naturalization Service officials, hospital spokesman David Langness said.

“We don’t know where they were headed,” Langness said.

INS officials were unavailable for comment after the man’s release. Earlier in the day, however, INS spokeswoman Sharon Gavin said officials were still trying to identify the man and his reasons for stowing away in the more than seven-hour Air France flight to the U.S.

“We don’t know if he was looking for a cheaper fare or actually trying to avoid inspections,” Gavin said.

UCLA Medical Center officials never learned the man’s true identity, age or nationality, despite calls from people worldwide who said they might know him.

Although the man spoke English, Spanish and French, he rarely communicated to staff members other than to write requests for food, water or coffee.

“Some [notes] were coherent, some were not,” Langness said.

Doctors suspected the man suffered oxygen deprivation during the flight that may have caused brain damage. But immigration officials took custody of him before psychological or neurological testing could be done.

Some reports indicated he may have been mentally ill and homeless. Others suggest the man worked at the Tahiti airport.

The man withstood temperatures of 50 below zero for several hours and arrived with a body temperature of 79 degrees, which is often fatal.

“It is an astounding story,” hospital spokesman Langness said. “We don’t always have a medical explanation for everything that happens. Certainly in this case, his survival was miraculous.”