An Iranian who lived on a red plastic bench in the shopping mall of Terminal One at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris for 18 years, seemingly due to a series of bureaucratic bungles, has died.

Mehran Karimi Nasseri was 76 or 77.

He had landed at Charles de Gaulle in 1988, claiming asylum as a political refugee. He claimed he had been refused entry to both Britain and France after papers confirming his refugee status and identity were lost, and remained in the airport for the next 18 years.

His story was turned into a movie, Le Terminal, in 2004, starring Tom Hanks (pictured above).

In 2006, Nasseri had been taken to hospital for an operation, after which he was looked after by the French Red Cross in an airport hotel. However, in September this year he returned to the airport, living in Terminal 2F.