Dutch police are investigating the possibility of human trafficking after on Thursday they found the boy falling from a compartment in a plane from the Maastricht Aachen airport in Limburg.
“For us, it’s a miracle,” said a Dutch police spokesman. “Usually, when someone is stored like this, they die because of the cold or lack of oxygen,” said Marvin Engh, a spokesman for the Marechaussee in the Royal Netherlands, one of the country’s national police forces.
The clandestine was taken to a hospital with hypothermia, but has since fully recovered, police said.
He began his journey in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and left there for Istanbul, Turkey, before continuing to London, according to Engh.
The plane reached a maximum height of 5,791 meters (19,000 feet) and a speed of 460 miles per hour.
The clandestine flight had arrived in London from Istanbul earlier on Thursday morning and had spent three hours there before leaving for Maastricht.
Stansted officials confirmed that the clandestine flight was operated by the airline, which is Turkey’s national flag carrier.
Police do not know how he jumped on his other flights, but a spokesman for London Stansted Airport told CNN that he did not board the aircraft while he was there. that is, he probably boarded the THY6305 in Istanbul.
Turkish Airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
He has applied for asylum and his application is being handled by the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Engh said.
Justice Department spokesman Bart Vis said the INS could not comment on individual cases because of privacy laws.
The investigation into human smuggling is a standard procedure, and the health and well-being of the child is a priority for the authorities, Dutch police said.
CNN’s Rosanne Roobeek contributed to this report.