The Tragic Death Of Stowaway Keith Sapsford

According to another newspaper clipping published on Find-a-grave, Sapsford's father, Charles Sapsford, said his son was a "wanderer" who wanted to "keep on the move," saying Keith picked up the travel bug after the family went on an extensive trip the year prior.

According to another newspaper clipping published on Find-a-grave, Sapsford's father, Charles Sapsford, said his son was a "wanderer" who wanted to "keep on the move," saying Keith picked up the travel bug after the family went on an extensive trip the year prior. 

Ironically, the elder Sapsford was a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering and told the paper he'd warned his son of the dangers of stowing away — specifically he part about the wheel-well doors opening in mid-air — and the other ways stowaways often die in transit, including from a lack of oxygen and freezing temperatures at high altitudes. 

But like many teenagers before and since, Keith Sapsford did not heed his father's advice. Instead, he ran away from a Roman Catholic Boys' school where he'd been placed by his parents a couple of weeks prior wearing nothing but a t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops, per The Age

It's not clear whether Sapsford was running from or toward something — unfortunately, though, he didn't make it far. 

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