Not long ago, several media outlets wrote about the tragic story of a child whose body was found in the wheel well of an Air France plane at Charles de Gaulle Airport. He was discovered as a stowaway who perished after flight AF703, out of Ivory Coast, had landed in Paris.
The child was recently identified as 14-year-old Laurent-Barthélémy Ani Guibahi. And his dream, like that of many young people of Ivory Coast, was to migrate to Europe.
Unfortunately, the way he tried to fulfill that dream had deathly consequences – he’s believed to have died of hypothermia, lack of oxygen, or both. And now the government is working on preventative measures so such a tragedy will hopefully never happen again.
Laurent Barthélémy was a student at Simone Gbagbo high school. He was a smart boy and was especially good in math and physics. But he had dreams that he shared with his friends – he wanted to leave his poor town in Ivory Coast, travel to Europe and become a great footballer (soccer player). So he packed a bag and instead of walking to school one day, he walked the 30 kilometers from his town to Felix Houphouet-Boigny Airport, in the district of Adjouffou.
The surveillance video shows someone dressed in a T-shirt near the tarmac. The Minister of Transport reports it’s felt he climbed a wall to enter the airport, then hid in some bushes until the plane was ready to take off, when he ran and hid in the wheel well.
His bag was found on the tarmac. One of his belongings was a T-shirt from his school, which was a lead in how investigators were eventually able to identify him.
His family, of course, is crushed. His high school is using him as an example for other students to not try the same thing, and to find their happiness at home. And the government is doing its part, as well; effective immediately they’ll be creating a security buffer zone around the airport, in the form of a 200-meter wide strip around the airport fence.
I would love to believe that a tragedy like this will never happen again.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
5 comments
His dream was to violate the sovereignty of Europeans who are entitled to their own countries for themselves just like the Japanese, Chinese, Indians, blacks, Jews, Palestinians and Arabs are entitled to their own countries. His dream was to take what was not his and spit in the face of Europeans who are facing high levels of violence and cultural destruction from two groups of economic migrants just like those in the states face the same.
I appreciate the social-political bend you put on it and am well aware of the issues. However, you’re wrong. He was a 14-year-old boy and his dream was to have a better life.
I’m with Jackson here…report the facts…not speculate on his hopes and dreams.
I did. The fact is that a little boy died. Another fact is that it’s tragic.
@Jackson Adams – if the same moronic Europeans had kept their crotches home in Europe instead of exploiting (dreaming to violate the sovereignty of other cultures/nations/regions) off their natural resources, land, culture,people and identities in 16th, 17th, 18th Century No Black, Brown, Yellow people (read – Japanese, Chinese, Indians, blacks, Jews, Palestinians and Arabs) would’ve been violating the sovereignty of Europeans who are entitled to their own countries for themselves.