The protagonist of a real-life incident that inspired Hollywood director Steven Spielberg to make his movie "The Terminal," died at the age of 77 at the terminal he lived for 18 years.
"(Mehran Karimi) Nasseri was pronounced dead by the airport medical team at Terminal 2F and had died of natural causes,” CNN reported on Saturday, citing a spokesperson for the Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport.
Nasseri, reportedly born in 1945 to an Iranian-British family, was trapped at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport’s international no-man's-land in 1988 as he did not have proper documentation.
Nicknamed Sir Alfred, Nasseri lived at the airport until 2006, when he was hospitalized. After being discharged from the hospital, he was housed in a Paris shelter in 2008, according to reports.
He had been living at the airport again in recent weeks until his death on midday Saturday, the reports added, noting that Nasseri always kept his luggage by his side, reading and taking notes in his diary during his time at the airport.
Nasseri’s situation inspired Steven Spielberg’s 2004 "The Terminal" starring Tom Hanks as Viktor Navorski, an Eastern European man stuck at a New York airport when a military coup in his native country prevents him from returning.
