BRITAIN-S. AFRICA/STOWAWAY Body found in London street "fell from BA plane"

Record ID: 151765

  • Title: BRITAIN-S. AFRICA/STOWAWAY Body found in London street "fell from BA plane"
  • Date: 19th June 2015
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (JUNE 19, 2015) (REUTERS) PLANE FLYING OVER BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 4th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAADK8VK8H16D87TUOOKVS9515
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: British police were investigating a body found on the roof of a building in southwest London believed to be that of a stowaway who had fallen from the undercarriage of a plane as it came in to land from South Africa.
    The man's body was discovered on an office roof in Richmond on Thursday (June 18) morning.
    Shortly before, another man had been found unconscious in the undercarriage of a British Airways jet that had just arrived at nearby Heathrow airport from Johannesburg. He was taken to hospital in critical condition.
    "At this time there is no evidence to link the death to the discovery of a stowaway in the undercarriage of a plane at Heathrow Airport," police said in a statement.
    "However this is one line of inquiry into identifying the deceased and the circumstances of his death."
    Joe Clarke is a resident of Richmond, friends with a local community police officer. He recounted her experience when she was called to the scene of the body on the rooftop.
    "She told me 'I've just had a terrible incident on the roof of a building, there was someone dead on the top of the building. And then she elaborated a little bit. She said 'I am a little bit in shock, it was a shocking sight.' She was first on the scene and when she got to the roof someone was impaled on an electrical box with just the two legs sticking out. So she was shocked and she is an experienced lady, so it was a bit upsetting for her," Clarke said.
    Police said the surviving man had been found about an hour earlier.
    "At around 08:30hrs on 18 June police at Heathrow Airport were called to reports of a suspected stowaway on a flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow," they said.
    "The man, believed aged 24, was found in the undercarriage of the plane and was taken to hospital. His condition is now described as critical."
    British Airways said in a short statement that it was working with police and authorities in Johannesburg "to establish the facts surrounding this very rare situation."
    Bodies have previously been found in the street in the Richmond and Kew areas of London which lie below the point at which many jets open their landing gear doors to put the wheels down on the Heathrow approach.
    "The sad thing is that people feel so desperate to take these measures and it is just a horrible ending for the person concerned of course," said Reverend Neil Summers from the church nearby.
    Experts say the chances of a stowaway managing to avoid either being crushed by the wheels as they retract after take-off or being frozen to death during the flight are very small.
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