Mehran Karimi Nasseri, who lived at Paris airport and inspired "The Terminal," has died - The Washington Post

Nasseri was beloved by airdrome staff, who mourned his passing this weekend, the spokesperson said.

The 2004 Steven Spielberg film, acceptable astatine JFK International Airport successful New York, starred Tom Hanks arsenic an Eastern European antheral who gets stuck successful the transit portion aft a coup successful his fictitious location state upends his ineligible status. In the end, the protagonist leaves the airport, concisely fulfills his father’s ngo and past heads home.

But Nasseri’s decades-long migration struggles were acold much complicated. Over the years, helium provided immoderate conflicting details of his life, but yet determination was nary Hollywood ending.

Nasseri was either exiled oregon fled governmental turmoil successful Iran successful the 1970s and settled successful Belgium for galore years. He was reportedly bent connected uncovering his British parent and tried to question elsewhere successful Europe, lone to beryllium repeatedly expelled from respective countries for lacking the required migration documents, according to the BBC.

In 1988, French authorities stopped him astatine the Paris airdrome arsenic helium tried to walk done without individuality papers, which helium said had been stolen. Authorities held him for respective days successful limbo successful a transit zone, and past released him into 1 of Charles de Gaulle’s terminals.

Caught successful an migration trap, helium soon acceptable up a makeshift location of his ain successful the airdrome and lived for galore years successful Terminal 1.

He became the taxable of quality articles and astatine slightest 2 movies. His airdrome location became a media sensation aft the 2004 merchandise of “The Terminal.” DreamWorks reportedly paid him respective 100 1000 dollars for the rights to his story.

By 1999, France offered him a residency permit. But helium continued to unrecorded wrong the airdrome until 2006. After leaving the airport, helium appeared to conflict to accommodate to extracurricular life.

“The world is that helium had intelligence problems,” the airdrome spokesperson said. “He was a stateless idiosyncratic who was taken attraction of by the airdrome assemblage and doctors.”

The spokesperson said that Nasseri had returned to the airport’s 2F Terminal successful mid-September, aft leaving a attraction location wherever helium had been staying.

“Many radical went to large lengths to person him hospitalized and enactment into a attraction location adapted to his needs,” the spokesperson said.

Other refugees person recovered themselves successful akin situations, though nary for specified a agelong time.

In 2018, a Syrian antheral lived successful a Malaysian airdrome for 7 months earlier Canada took him in. He was caught without a ineligible spot to enactment portion being incapable to instrumentality location to his war-torn country.