Themba Cabeka, the man who made his escape out of South Africa to London. Picture: Instagram
One of the two men who made the daring “escape” out of South Africa from OR Tambo International Airport to Heathrow Airport in London, England has spoken out on camera.
In June 2015 Themba Cabeka and his friend Carlito devised a plan to get on board a British Airways flight from Johannesburg to London. They stowed away in the plane’s wheel housing.
Carlito did not make it.
Speaking to British publication Unilad, Cabeka explained that the duo was homeless in Johannesburg, meaning they were constantly in danger and hungry.
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They waited for the perfect opportunity to sneak onto the plane: “It was simple but it was dangerous. But for me and Carlito it seemed like it was a piece of a cake, you know?”
When asked by the interviewer how he secured himself, he replied that he held onto the “irons”, in the airplane.
“That is why I have three burn marks,” he said, showing the marks on the left side of his arm.
Both men lost consciousness after the plane took off and Cabeka woke up moments before landing, falling between three and six metres to the ground.
“When I woke up, I saw two people who were coming, they said hey ‘check this guy, he just jump out the plane’. I was like maybe I am just dreaming and I am still in the plane.”
He was in critical condition and stayed in hospital, in a coma, for six months. “After I woke up, I couldn’t move or do nothing.”
Cabeka was told that Carlito didn’t make it. He fell from the plane onto a building.
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