Body Of Kenya Airways Stowaway Fell And Nearly Killed London Sunbather
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This article contains details some readers may find distressing
A stowaway who fell from a Kenya Airways plane landed a metre away from a man who was sunbathing in a garden in Clapham in London over the weekend.
The body had fallen over 1,000 metres from the Boeing Dreamliner at the end of a nine-hour flight from Nairobi, just as it was approaching Heathrow on Sunday afternoon.
His body was later found in a property on Offerton Road in Clapham Junction, south London, after landing just a metre away from a resident who had been sunbathing in his garden.
A neighbour said he had heard a "whomp", prompting him to look out of the window. He then realised that the body still had "all of his clothes on" and was intact as it was an "ice block" but that there was "blood all over the walls of the garden".
Kenya Airways investigating case of dead stowaway whose body allegedly fell from KQ flight 100 in a London garden. pic.twitter.com/ruokVEtVWr
- MMUST FM KENYA (@mmustfm103) July 2, 2019
"I went outside and it was just then the neighbour came out and he was very shaken," the neighbour added. "He had been sunbathing and he landed one metre away from him."
A friend of the sunbather, who was inside the house at the time, told the Sun that he was "very shaken", saying: "The body literally landed one metre away from him and was obliterated. My friend was very shaken."
A plane spotter who had been watching the flight saw the body fall, and told police he believed it was a Kenya Airways flight.
The identity of the man who fell is not yet known, but a bag, water and food was found in the compartment of the plane. He would have struggled to survive amid low oxygen levels and temperatures of around -60C.
In a statement, the police said they "believe the man was a stowaway and had fallen from the landing gear of an inbound Kenya Airways flight to Heathrow Airport".
They also added that the death was not being treated as suspicious, but that they are investigating the circumstances.
A spokesman for the airline told the BBC: "The 6,840km (4250-mile) flight takes eight hours and 50 minutes. It is unfortunate that a person has lost his life by stowing aboard one of our aircraft and we express our condolences.
"Kenya Airways is working closely with the relevant authorities in Nairobi and London as they fully investigate this case."