/ 7 March 2000

MOROCCAN STOWAWAY HIDES IN BUS

HUNGRY, lost and confused a 10-year-old Morrocan boy was picked up by Italian police on Monday after he travelled 1,600 km hidden in the luggage compartment of a coach. Mounir hid himself in the tourist bus before it left his Morrocan home town of Tangiers in the hope of making his way to his aunt’s house in Spain and beginning a new life. Instead he found himself in Genoa, Italy, after the bus failed to stop in either Spain or France. Mounir told police his parents had no idea about his plan to head to Madrid, where he intended to look for work. He was given a hospital check-up and placed with an immigrant support group while he waits for his family to come and pick him up.