Man survives flight in jet's wheel well

VIENNA, Austria - A 20-year-old Romanian looking for work hid in the wheel well of a jet in Vienna and survived a 90-minute flight to London, police said Wednesday.

The man told British authorities that he crawled "under the wire" of the airport's perimeter fence and climbed into the undercarriage of a private Boeing 747 parked near a construction site for a new terminal, Schwechat Police Chief Leo Lauber said.

Lauber said the jet belonged to a high-ranking sheikh from the United Arab Emirates and took off from the Austrian capital Sunday night without any passengers.

Lauber said that after landing at London's Heathrow Airport the man - who said he was looking for a job - apparently fell out of the gear's compartment and was apprehended by police.

A spokesman for London police said the man was arrested and remained in custody at Heathrow.

Austria's daily Kurier newspaper reported, without citing a source, that the stowaway may have survived because the aircraft flew "well below 10,000 meters" (32,808 feet) because of bad weather.