Plenzig Stefanie, Held Hannelore, Holz Franziska, Kals Theresa, Verhoff Marcel A
Institute of Legal Medicine, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe-University, Kennedyallee 104, 60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Institute of Legal Medicine, University Hospital Frankfurt, Goethe-University, Kennedyallee 104, 60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Forensic Sci Int. 2018 Sep;290:11-15. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2018.06.030. Epub 2018 Jun 28.
The earliest mention of a stowaway in the wheel well of an airplane dates back to 1947: A 30-year-old man chose this mode of travel for a trip from Lisbon to Brazil and survived (Véronneau et al., 1996). In a retrospective study, we evaluated cases with lethal outcome of stowaways in airplane wheel wells by focusing on forensic autopsy results, in particular, in regard to hypothermia, hypoxia, and injuries. In addition, the flight routes, flight altitudes, and flight durations were analyzed. Using the forensik program, a search of all the autopsies performed between 1994-2017 at the Institute of Legal Medicine in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, was conducted, using the key words "airplane," "flights," and "wheel well." All of the thus retrieved autopsy reports, medicolegal expert reports, and police investigation reports were then evaluated. Five cases were included in our study. The decedents were all men, aged between 14 and 26 years. Four of the decedents had been discovered at the Frankfurt Main airport within airplane wheel wells; the fifth man had been discovered in a woods underlying one of the flight approach paths to the airport. Two stowaways had died of hypoxic asphyxiation, possibly in conjunction with hypothermia as a contributing factor. One stowaway died of the polytrauma he sustained when he was crushed by retracting landing gear. For a further stowaway, the cause of death could not be macroscopically determined at autopsy. In one case, only an external postmortem examination had been performed, without autopsy. Analysis of the flight routes, altitudes, and durations showed that the flights had been international flights, the flight altitudes had varied between 7000m (∼23,000ft) und 11,000m (∼36,000ft), and the flight duration had been between 4 and 9.5h. At high altitudes, the ambient conditions in wheel wells, which are not pressurized, are rarely survived by stowaways, with hypoxic asphyxiation likely posing greater peril than hypothermia. Further dangers are that of being crushed by retracting landing gear after takeoff, or of falling out of a wheel well, from a great height, when the landing gear is deployed. When it appears conceivable that a stowaway may have fallen from an aircraft wheel well during landing or takeoff, an autopsy and discovery scene investigation are essential to reconstructing the course of events.
最早提及有人藏于飞机轮舱可追溯到1947年：一名30岁男子选择这种出行方式从里斯本前往巴西，并成功生还（韦罗诺等，1996年）。在一项回顾性研究中，我们通过关注法医尸检结果，特别是关于体温过低、缺氧和损伤情况，对藏于飞机轮舱的偷渡者致死案例进行了评估。此外，还分析了飞行航线、飞行高度和飞行时长。利用法医程序，在德国美因河畔法兰克福法医学研究所对1994年至2017年间进行的所有尸检进行搜索，使用关键词“飞机”“航班”和“轮舱”。然后对所有检索到的尸检报告、法医学专家报告和警方调查报告进行评估。我们的研究纳入了5个案例。死者均为男性，年龄在14岁至26岁之间。其中4名死者是在法兰克福美因机场的飞机轮舱内被发现的；第五名男子是在机场一条进近航道下方的树林中被发现的。两名偷渡者死于缺氧窒息，可能体温过低也是一个促成因素。一名偷渡者死于起落架收起时被挤压所致的多处创伤。对于另一名偷渡者，尸检时在宏观上无法确定死因。在一个案例中，仅进行了外部尸体检查，未进行尸检。对飞行航线、高度和时长的分析表明，这些航班均为国际航班，飞行高度在7000米（约23000英尺）至11000米（约36000英尺）之间，飞行时长在4小时至9.5小时之间。在高海拔地区，未加压的轮舱内环境条件，偷渡者很少能够存活，缺氧窒息可能比体温过低带来更大的危险。其他危险包括起飞后被收起的起落架挤压，或在起落架展开时从很高的轮舱中掉落。当有可能偷渡者在着陆或起飞时从飞机轮舱掉落时，尸检和发现现场调查对于重建事件过程至关重要。
