Terminal : the story really happened !

[Maciamo]

BBC News : Kenya airport dweller is British

A former Kenyan citizen who has lived for 13 months inside Nairobi airport has been granted British citizenship.
Sanjay Shah has been taking part in a British citizenship ceremony - a prelude to being given a full passport.

He was barred from entering the UK and was sent back to Kenya. He had already given up his Kenyan passport so he remained at the airport.

He spent 400 days living between the departure lounges on one side and the immigration counters on the other.

Mr Shah washed in the airport lavatories and lived on coffee and food given to him by people working in the airport cafes.

Sanjay Shah's story is almost identical to the movie 'Terminal' with Tom Hanks. The only difference is that his country didn't cease to exist, his citizenship was just not clear, as a Kenya-born British overseas citizen (not the same as British citizen) of Indian descent.

 

[Kara_Nari]

Yeah, I heard that they had actually based that movie on a true story... Didnt know all of the details however.

 

[bossel]

Yeah, I heard that they had actually based that movie on a true story... Didnt know all of the details however.

IIRC, there is an airport dweller in France they based the story upon. The last I heard is that he has been offered solutions but has grown accustomed to the situation & doesn't want to leave the airport now.

 

[Kara_Nari]

Ah was that what it was? Thanks for that
I think I would quite like to live in an airport if given the opportunity, or forced upon the situation... as long as I had a healthy bank balance to boot... food is so expensive there, and if you needed new clothes, well... they hardly have cheap discount brands in the airport do they?

 

[lonesoullost3]

The the Terminal was already previously based on a true story (like bossel said). And instead of a few months the true story was 3 years!! Is this the same guy you're talking about bossel or is there yet another airport-strandee out there?

 

[bossel]

The the Terminal was already previously based on a true story (like bossel said). And instead of a few months the true story was 3 years!! Is this the same guy you're talking about bossel or is there yet another airport-strandee out there?

I looked it up, the guy calls himself Sir Alfred Mehran & has been trapped in Paris Charles de Gaulle since 1988. His diaries are out as a book called The Terminal Man. Strangely I found mainly German websites when googling for "Sir Alfred Mehran", but here is an English one .