Mario Stevan Ambarita, 21, was spotted staggering around the
tarmac at Jakarta airport on Tuesday, shortly after the Garuda
Indonesia domestic flight landed from Sumatra Island to the
north.
"The case was quite a surprise to us," Garuda CEO Arif Wibowo
told Reuters.
The stowaway scaled a 2.5-metre fence to reach the aircraft,
where he tucked himself into the rear wheel housing, media said.
He collapsed after the flight and was taken to hospital with a
bleeding ear and other light injuries before spending the night
in a police cell.
"He said he wanted to meet Jokowi," E Sutrisna, a spokesman for
Soekarno-Hatta Airport Police told Kompas TV, referring to
Indonesian President Joko Widodo by his nickname.
According to local media reports, Ambarita had spent up to a
year studying aircraft taking off and landing, had learned from
the Internet how to hide in the wheel well and had made an
unsuccessful attempt in the past to hitch a free plane ride.
(Reporting by Fergus Jensen; Editing by John Chalmers)
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