MOSCOW, September 28 (RIA Novosti) - Perm airport, in the Urals, has tightened security after a 15-year-old boy clambered into the wheel well of a Boeing 737's wing and almost froze to death in a two-hour flight to Moscow, a spokesman said Friday.

"The weight and balance engineers checked the baggage sections for technical failures, but did not check inside them, now it will be obligatory," the spokesman said.

The spokesman added that staff would get additional guidance and that the incident would be used as a special case in technical training.

Earlier a Russian tabloid Tvoi Den said that Andrei Shcherbakov, 15, would have to have his fingertips removed after he survived temperatures hitting -50C (-58 F) during his unbelievable 1,300-km (808-mile) journey from Perm to Moscow.

A deputy chief doctor of a children's hospital in Perm, Lyudmila Nefyodova, dispersed amputation fears saying that the boy was in a satisfactory condition, although he would have to stay in hospital for at least another three weeks.

"Blood circulation is improving in both of his wrists. The muscles are quite viable," she added.

The boy reportedly made the journey after a family argument which ended with Andrei running away to his grandmother's village. On reaching the village, he decided to go on, and hitched a 220-km (137-mile) ride to the regional center, Perm, where he was dropped off at the airport.

After reaching the capital, Shcherbakov collapsed onto the tarmac. His arms and legs were so severely frozen that rescuers were at first unable to remove his coat and shoes. Doctors said it was nothing short of a miracle that he survived the flight.