An Iranian national who lived for 18 years at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport and inspired Steven Spielberg’s film ‘The Terminal’ died at the airport on Saturday, officials said.
Merhan Karimi Naseri died of a heart attack at the airport’s Terminal 2F around noon, a Paris airport authority official said. Police and a medical team treated him but were unable to save him, the official said. The official is not authorized to make his name public.
Karimi Nasseri, believed to have been born in 1945, lived in the airport’s Terminal 1 from 1988 to 2006. Initially due to legal uncertainty as he had no residency papers, then on his own initiative, French media reported.
He has been living at the airport again for the past few weeks, the official said.
His saga inspired the film “The Terminal” starring Tom Hanks, AP reported.
