New information has surfaced about the 15-year-old boy who ran away from home and miraculously survived a flight from California to Hawaii while stowed away inside the plane's wheel well.
"These are new pictures of 15-year-old Yahya Abdi ... Hawaii News Now was first to report that Abdi had been lied to by his father who said his mother in Africa was dead ... And he desperately wanted to see her." (Via KHNL)
Abdi and his two other siblings have not seen their mother since 2006 when they moved to the U.S. with their dad and stepmother. Voice of America got in touch with Abdi's mother, Ubah Mohamed Abdullahi, who is at a refugee camp in Ethiopia.
After finding out about the ordeal, she told the outlet, "I cried, felt badly... Yes, I know he was looking for me and I am requesting the U.S. government to help me reunite with my kids." She added that her dream is to get to the States to be reunited with her children.
"FBI agents say surveillance shows the 15-year-old jumping out of the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airlines jet on a Maui tarmac Sunday... Abdullahi said that her husband took her three kids to California without her knowledge." (Via KFSN)
Abdullahi also says her children's rights were violated when their father lied, and she accuses their stepmother of giving them harsh treatment, though there's no known evidence of that.
Daily Mail talked to Abdi's cousin, who backed up that accusation and said Abdi "was incredibly unhappy and very angry with his father. He will have no real concept of the size of the world and the size of Africa. He would have simply thought, 'If I can get on a plane, I can get out in Africa and ask people where my mother is.' He was prepared to die to find her."
Adbi's mother is currently working on trying to get to the States but says that could take years.
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