unilad homepage
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • World News
    • Crime
    • Health
    • Money
    • Sport
    • Travel
  • Film and TV
    • Netflix
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Archive
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Man who had been living in airport for 18 years died there

Home> News> Travel

Published 17:16 24 May 2024 GMT+1

Man who had been living in airport for 18 years died there

Mehran Karimi Nasseri was trying to gain asylum in Europe but never achieved it

Callum Jones

Callum Jones

google discoverFollow us on Google Discover

How long do you spend in the airport? I mean, you're advised to get to departures between two and three hours before your flight - so not that long, really.

Well, one man spent a whopping 18 years in the same airport, and even ended up passing away in the terminal.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri is thought to have been born in 1945 in Israel, but it was the latter part of his life that grabbed many people's attention.

In 1988, Nasseri landed in France without the relevant paperwork required for him to live there.

Advert

The Israeli could't return to his home country either as he'd been expelled from the country without a passport, something which led to him trying to gain asylum in Europe.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri spent 18 years in the airport. (Eric Fougere/VIP Images/Corbis via Getty Images)
Mehran Karimi Nasseri spent 18 years in the airport. (Eric Fougere/VIP Images/Corbis via Getty Images)

That did not exactly go to plan though, which led to an extended stay for Nasseri at the French airport.

He was given the right to seek refuge in Belgium, but he said that his luggage containing his official documents was stolen in a Parisian train station.

Arrested by French police, they couldn't deport him anywhere as he lacked any sort of official documents, and he ended up in Charles de Gaulle airport in August 1988.

For the next 18 years, he would be a permanent fixture in the airport's Terminal 1, spending most of that time being stuck in legal limbo.

When the refuge papers finally cleared in 1999, he was nervous about leaving the airport and reportedly refused to sign them, spending several more years living in the airport.

He would sleep on a red plastic bench inside the airport and managed to make friends with the staff working at the terminal, they nicknamed him 'Lord Alfred' and he became a famous face for passengers as they journeyed through the airport.

The man died at the airport. (Eric Fougere/VIP Images/Corbis via Getty Images)
The man died at the airport. (Eric Fougere/VIP Images/Corbis via Getty Images)

Nasseri continued to live in Charles de Gaulle airport by personal choice, calling the airport his home until 2006 when he was hospitalised and his sleeping area in the airport dismantled.

Once out of the airport, Nasseri lived in a shelter in Paris, though Charles de Gaulle staff said that in the final weeks before his death, he had started living in the airport again.

In November 2022, Nasseri passed away from a heart attack in the airport's Terminal 2F on 12 November, with a medical team unable to resuscitate him.

The man's bizarre story ended up becoming the loose inspiration for 2004 movie The Terminal starring Tom Hanks as a man unable to return to his home country and forced to live in an airport.

While Hanks' character was from a fictional Eastern European country and he spent his time living in JFK airport in the US, the key idea of a man trapped in political limbo and forced to live in an airport terminal was the main inspiration behind the movie.

Featured Image Credit: Eric Fougere/VIP Images/Corbis via Getty Images

Topics: Travel, Weird

Callum Jones
Callum Jones

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

15 mins ago
26 mins ago
2 hours ago
  • Getty Stock Images
    15 mins ago

    Europe's new travel rules expected to affect millions of Americans

    The European Commission will have rolled out the system by April 12

    News
  • Facebook/Frank Gervasi
    26 mins ago

    New York dad who rescued daughter from being sex-trafficked sues for $10 million over what allegedly happened to her in psych ward

    Emmarae Gervasi was allegedly assaulted in two different psychiatric facilities

    News
  • Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images
    2 hours ago

    Nikki Glaser reveals why she lets her long-term boyfriend have sex with other women

    The Golden Globes host admitted there are still some rules in place

    Celebrity
  • Getty Stock Image
    2 hours ago

    Expert reveals 5 signs you partner is silently breaking up with you

    Have you noticed any of these behavior changes?

    News
  • Man who had been living in airport for 18 years dies there
  • Man who had acid thrown in his face reveals stranger's words during attack
  • Man who briefly died during surgery revealed who he saw in the operating room that left him shocked
  • Why family of tourist who died after falling 1,968ft down active volcano believe she could have been saved