MADRID, Spain.- On July 21, 1991, the bodies of two young Cubans were discovered in the landing gear of an Iberia DC-10 plane at Barajas airport, Madrid. José Manuel Acevedo Cárdenas, 20, and Alepis Hernández Chacón, 19, were trying to escape the severe economic crisis and restrictions on freedoms in Cuba under Fidel Castro’s regime. The bodies of the young men were found frozen and clinging to the landing gear fork.
Flight IB-944 had departed from Havana and landed in Madrid at around three in the afternoon. During the journey, the stowaways faced extreme conditions: very low temperatures and lack of oxygen, which resulted in their tragic deaths. The autopsy confirmed that the cause of death was asphyxiation, a common outcome in these desperate escape attempts.
The flight lasted eight and a half hours, with temperatures of 55 degrees below zero outside the craft and 40 below zero in the landing gear compartment, along with an altitude of 12,000 meters, where there is hardly any oxygen, and a speed of 900 kilometers per hour.
A crew member explained at the time that security measures at Havana airport were very strict, so the only opportunity the passengers had was to youths boarding the plane was when the aircraft was positioned at the head of the runway to begin takeoff. At that moment, the plane stopped briefly.
The discovery was made by an electrician at Barajas Airport, who was carrying out inspections on the aircraft ‘Costa Dorada’ for its next flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The technician became aware of the tragedy when he found traces of blood on the central rod of the landing gear.
Since January 1959, there are several Cubans who have died trying to escape from the Island hiding in the landing gear of planes bound for Europe. In 1969, Armando Socarrás survived a flight to Madrid, while Jorge Pérez froze to death. In 1970, two Cubans were crushed in the landing gear. In 1999, Félix Julián García was found dead on a British Airways plane in London, and Roberto García Quinta was found decomposing on an Alitalia Boeing 767 in Italy.
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