A body discovered in a garden in south London is believed to have fallen from the landing gear compartment of a Kenya Airways flight.
Police say they are trying to identify the individual, believed to be male, after the body was found at a residential address in Clapham on Sunday afternoon.
“At this point, police believe the man was a stowaway and had fallen from the landing gear of an inbound Kenya Airways flight to Heathrow Airport,” Metropolitan Police said in a statement issued on Monday.
“A bag, water and some food were discovered in the landing gear compartment once it landed at the airport.”
The Press Association news agency cited a neighbour as saying the body “landed one metre away from” a man sunbathing in his back garden.
“I heard a ‘whomp’. I went upstairs to look out of a window,” it quoted the unnamed resident as saying.
“He had all of his clothes on and everything. I had a closer look and saw there was blood all over the walls of the garden.
“His head was not in a good way. I realised immediately that he had fallen,” the neighbour said, adding that a plane spotter saw the body fall.
Police said the death is not being treated as suspicious and inquiries are underway to establish the “full circumstances”.
In 2015, a body found on the roof of a southwest London business was believed to be that of a stowaway who fell from a British Airways flight from South Africa.
People flying in passenger planes outside the pressurized cabins are subjected to freezing temperatures and a lack of oxygen at the high altitudes at which the aircraft fly.
SOURCE:AAP
