Body found in London garden fell from Heathrow-bound plane

LONDON (AP):

Police and airline officials say a stowaway fell from the landing gear of a jet as it approached London’s Heathrow Airport after a nine-hour flight from Nairobi.

The Metropolitan Police force says the body of an unidentified man was found in a south London garden on Sunday, and it is believed that he fell from a plane.

He has not yet been identified.

Kenya Airways said on Monday that police traced the body to its Nairobi-London flight. A bag, water, and food were discovered in the plane’s landing-gear compartment.

Though not common, stowaways have in the past plunged to the streets of London as planes lowered their landing gear. In September 2012, a 30-year old from Mozambique, Jose Matada, died after falling from the undercarriage of a Heathrow-bound flight from Angola.