Authorities say it's amazing that a teenager boy beat the odds of survival after hitching a ride in a Boeing 767 by hiding in its wheel well while the plane flew from California to Hawaii.

A federal official said Tuesday that the 15-year-old boy jumped over an airport fence in San Jose, Calif. around 1 a.m. on Sunday, and then hid in the wheel well of Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45 for hours until it took off at 7:55 a.m., reports CNN.

The FBI is calling it a "miracle" and the airline says the teen is "lucky to have survived" the 5-hour flight to Maui while hiding in the wheel well.

According to FBI spokesman Tom Simon, the youngster managed to survive sub-zero temperatures that may have dropped to minus-80 degrees in addition to oxygen-deprived air while the jet soared at 38,000 feet.

"I understand everybody's skepticism but his story checks out," Simon told USA TODAY. "He went into the wheel well in California and he came out of the wheel well in Hawaii."

Security video footage shows that the teen was able get around security at San Jose's Mineta International Airport and climb into the wheel well without being noticed. He then came out of the wheel well about an hour after it landed at the Kahului Airport on the island of Maui.

The boy is now in the custody of child welfare services workers, said Kayla Rosenfeld, a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Human Services.

The teen claims he ran away from his home in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Simon said. He also told authorities that he lost consciousness once the plane took off.