A stowaway has been found alive hidden inside a plane’s landing gear after a two-hour flight to Paris.

The unidentified man was found inside an Air Algerie plane which had flown from the northern Algerian city of Oran to the French capital. The total flight time was two hours and 12 minutes, according to Flightradar24.

The stowaway is in a critical condition, and is suffering from “severe hypothermia”, reported AFP.

He is believed to be in his 20s and was discovered after a routine inspection of the aircraft, reported the aviation site Paddle Your Own Kanoo.

Outside temperatures can reach as low as minus 50C while a plane is cruising at around 40,000 feet. A lack of oxygen can also lead to hypoxia.

Data compiled by the US Federal Aviation Administration found the mortality rate of stowaways on flights between 1947 and 2021 was around 77%.

While the majority of cases end badly, some incredible tales of survival have been reported.

Last year, a man was discovered on a flight from South Africa to the Netherlands via Kenya. The man, who was later found to be Kenyan, was found in the front wheel section of the cargo plane at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.

A year earlier, a 26-year-old man survived a near three-hour flight from Guatemala to Miami, US. Video footage showed him wearing a light jacket and sitting down on the airport tarmac.

In 2014, a teenager survived after stowing away on a five-and-half hour flight from San Jose, California, to Hawaii.