Heathrow plane stowaway's body found on shop roof

A stowaway who fell from a Heathrow-bound plane was found dead on a shop roof in south west London, while another man is in hospital after surviving.

FRIDAY 19 JUNE 2015

Both men are believed to have clung on to a British Airways plane as it flew more than 8,000 miles from Johannesburg in South Africa to Heathrow.

The victim fell on to a shop roof in Richmond, which is below the Heathrow flight path, on Thursday morning.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "The death is currently being treated as unexplained. A post-mortem examination will be held in due course and inquiries are ongoing to establish the male's identity. No arrests have been made.

"In regards to the male who survived, police were alerted at 8.28am on 18 June to reports of a suspected stowaway on a flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow."

The man who survived is aged between 25 and 30 and in a serious condition in hospital.

A British Airways spokeswoman said: "We are working with the Metropolitan Police and the authorities in Johannesburg to establish the facts surrounding this very rare case."

There have been other cases of stowaways plunging to their deaths from the undercarriages of Heathrow-bound flights, being found dead at the airport, or even surviving.

September 2012

Jose Matada was found dead on the pavement in East Sheen, near Richmond and also under the Heathrow flight path. He is believed to have died after stowing away inside the wheel recess of a British Airways plane travelling from Angola.

Matada, who died on his 26th birthday, was either dead or near death due to hypothermia and lack of oxygen when he fell from the undercarriage of a Boeing 777 as it was descending.

August 2012

A month before Matada's death, another stowaway was found dead in the landing gear of a Boeing 747 at Healthrow that had flown from Cape Town in South Africa.

June 2010

A 20-year-old Romanian man survived a flight from Vienna to Heathrow while hiding in a private jet's wheel recess. He was suiffering from hypothermia after enduring temperatures as low as -41C.

He avoided death because the plane, owned by an Arab sheikh, had flown at a low altitude due to bad weather. He was arrested as a stowaway, but later freed after being cautioned.

December 2002

The bodies of two boys aged 12 and 14 were found at Heathrow in the undercarriage of a Ghana Airways DC10 flight from Accra.

April 2002

The body of a man in his 20s, believed to be African, was found in a plane's wheel arch at Heathrow.

June 2001

A 21-year-old stowaway from Pakistan, Mohammed Ayaz, was found dead in a Homebase car park near East Sheen. He had hidden above the wheels of a BA Boeing 777 flight from Bahrain to Heathrow.