Audrey Gillan. Wednesday March 21, 2001.
The Guardian.
The two boys had taken advantage of the darkness, the heavy rain and the
long grass so that they could stow away in the wheel arch of a flight out of
Havana which they hoped would bring them a new life.
As they eased their way into the 6ft by 8ft wheel compartment they could not
have known that their desperate airport run had led them to the wrong aeroplane.
Instead of hiding on a flight to Miami, Alberto Rodriguez, 15, and Maikel
Almira, 16, mistakenly sneaked on to a British Airways flight to London's
Gatwick airport which had been delayed. Instead of a relatively short,
low-altitude trip which they had a chance of surviving, the pair were starved of
oxygen as the Boeing 777 went to 37,000ft in temperatures of -57C.
At an inquest at Haywards Heath, West Sussex, yesterday, a pathologist said
that the boys, who had been to cadet school in Cuba together, had probably died
of hypoxia just 20 minutes after take-off from Havana's Jose Martin airport.
Colin Hunter-Craig said: "It was like shooting up from sea level to more
than the height of Everest in just a few minutes."
The boys' desperate attempt to flee their home was not discovered until
Alberto's body fell on to the runway at Gatwick airport and Maikel's tumbled on
to a field in Surrey.
The news of their terrible deaths provoked Cuba's president, Fidel Castro,
to attack US immigration policies, saying the boys were "victims of
murderous law, victims of deceits and illusions" in reference to the 1966
US Adjustment Act, which offers preferential treatment to Cubans seeking asylum
in the US. More than 1m Cubans joined in a march past the US diplomatic mission.
The boys - friends for just two months - had mentioned nothing of their
plans to their parents. They sneaked away in darkness late on December 23 last
year. Police officers from the UK who travelled to Havana to investigate their
deaths believe the pair had planned to go to Miami where Alberto's grandfather
now lives.
A third friend, Yassel Diaz, had agreed to go with them but did not manage
to climb aboard the plane. When interviewed he said the whole idea had been that
of Alberto, who drew a plan of the aircraft in their classroom on the morning of
December 23. He explained where they were to hide, and how they were to climb on
to the plane as it was turning on the nose wheel. The diagram was left in the
notebook of a sick friend as well as farewell notes.
Maikel also left a letter which was found by his mother, Gicela Almira. In
it he said he intended to go to America to find work. The letter told her not to
worry and he apologised for missing his sister's impending 15th birthday
celebrations.
Mrs Almira said that her son was easily influenced. She said: "He knew
nothing about planes and he never said in the letter how he intended to get to
the US."
Alberto's mother, Orieta Santos, reported her son missing on Christmas Eve.
She later told police that her son was probably trying to reach her father who
lives in Miami. Staff at Jose Martin international airport told how British
Airways flight BA4504 to London Gatwick was pushed back as normal shortly after
midnight on December 24.
First officer Roger Barnes carried out a routine visual check of the plane
before take off. The co-pilot, Colin Valis, then taxied to the runway holding
point before finally taking off without incident after a short delay.
He admitted someone could have climbed into the wheel bay, using suspension
rods for grip, but said nothing of that sort had been reported to him.
It was not until three hours into the flight that a male passenger sitting
by a window told stewardess Beth Hammond that he had seen someone running
alongside the plane as it lifted off - police now believe this was Yassel's
failed attempt to get into the wheel bay.
Ms Hammond told the court: "I thought when he told me that whoever it
was must have been a good runner. I reported it."
The plane landed as normal. But at 4.45pm on Christmas Eve, Stuart Parker
discovered a body in a field at Oakwood Hill in Surrey, five miles from the
airport on the flightpath.
He told the court he had been hunting rabbits in an 80-acre field. "My
dog chased after a fox but then stopped. I shone my light and saw something
reflect. It was a white trainer. I looked again and saw a body."
At 9am the following day, the same BA jet took off from Gatwick bound for
Cancun in Mexico. As it took off, crew on board a jet on the ground saw
something fall from the plane.
Emergency checks were carried out before the captain of the Boeing received
a private satellite telephone call to say the object was a body. As the plane
was not damaged, it continued to Mexico.
Simon Morgan, first officer of flight BA4503 to Cancun, told the court: "We
went through the checks but nothing was wrong. We knew the plane had come in
from Cuba and when we heard it was a body we put two and two together."
Police checked the plane's wheel bay for fingerprints but found nothing.
Detective Sergeant Mick Jones said there was only one place someone could sit
without being crushed by the huge wheels, and only one source of heat, a hot air
pipe.
But, he added, nothing could save anyone in the wheel bay as the temperature
dropped to -57F.
After the coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death, Det Sgt Jones
said: "It is a tragic waste of young life and it is something that should
never, ever be attempted."
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