Afghan took off with him

Alarm in Vienna! Into the lavatory without a ticket and passport

An Afghan made it on board a plane in Vienna-Schwechat without a passport or ticket.(Bild: adobe.stock.com)

An unauthorized passenger tricked the controls at Vienna Airport. The Afghan actually managed to board a plane to China without any papers. The man was only caught by the crew in the air. The airport confirmed the incident to "Krone" and tried to calm things down. 

A recent incident at Vienna Airport has set alarm bells ringing. The good news first: according to official information, the resourceful passenger actually passed through the security check properly. In other words, he was checked for prohibited items and therefore posed no immediate danger to fellow passengers.

Snuck through behind travelers
However, this was the only check he passed. The Afghan passenger, whose identity was not specified, sneaked past behind a group of travelers at passport control and used their legitimate border crossing as a cover. The man also performed a Houdini act at boarding, where tickets are usually scanned.

Boarding crew only discovered the man after departure
After this brazen prank, he took his place - or rather his hiding place - in the on-board toilet. The crew of flight HU790 of the Chinese Hainan Airline from Vienna to Shenzhen only noticed the uninvited passenger in the air. It remains unclear how long he was holed up in the bathroom. It was only after his improvised hiding place was discovered that the Afghan was taken into custody and handed over to the Chinese authorities after landing. Whether sky marshals (a special Cobra unit) were also deployed is something the Ministry of the Interior is keeping under wraps - a secret!

The person was properly security checked and checked for dangerous or prohibited objects, which is also documented.

Flughafensprecher Peter Kleemann

Korneuburg public prosecutor's office investigating
Unsurprisingly, China did not want to keep the passenger. He was immediately brought back to Vienna, where officers from the Schwechat municipal police department received him and questioned him in detail.

The unauthorized passenger was reported to the police. He is now being investigated under the Administrative Offenses Act for violating the Border Control Act and under criminal law by the Korneuburg public prosecutor's office on suspicion of fraud. However, the man is apparently at large again.

Video footage was viewed
The security breach is a dramatic warning shot for Vienna Airport, which immediately reconstructed the unpleasant events in detail. There should be no successful copycats in the future. The airport and the police assure us that every step taken by the brazen passenger can be retraced. By viewing the video footage, it was possible to meticulously record and document what happened.

Security standards were evaluated
The Lower Austrian State Police Directorate also confirmed the extraordinary coup to the "Krone": "The Schwechat City Police Command evaluated the incident together with those responsible at Vienna-Schwechat Airport in order to optimize security standards," it says in technical jargon.