Dead stowaway falls off KQ flight from Nairobi to London

A Kenya Airways plane during flight. The body of a male stowaway fell off a Kenya Airways plane moments before it landed at London’s Heathrow Airport on June 30, 2019. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP  

In Summary

• London’s Metropolitan Police informed the airline that a body had fallen off the plane’s landing gear moments before landing.
• The body had no identification.
• According to Kenya Airways, the flight from Nairobi to London takes about nine hours.

By MARTIN KINYANJUI
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The body of a male stowaway Sunday fell off a Kenya Airways plane moments before it landed at...
London’s Heathrow Airport.

The KQ Flight 100 was travelling from Nairobi to London.

According to a statement released by KQ on Monday, London’s Metropolitan Police informed the airline that a body had fallen off the plane’s landing gear moments before landing.

“On June 30th at approximately 1541hours (UK time), a body of a yet to be identified male stowaway landed in a garden in the Borough of Lambeth, South London, suggesting that the stowaway was hidden in the undercarriage of the aircraft. The owner called the police who tracked the flight radar to KQ Flight 100,” said the statement.

NO IDENTIFICATION

Following the discovery of the body, which had no identification, the aircraft was inspected and a bag with food and clothes was discovered at the rear left landing gear.

“The incident has been treated as a sudden death and is now a police matter,” the statement further said, adding that police in London had contacted the Kenyan high commission to help in identifying the dead man.

According to Kenya Airways, the flight from Nairobi to London takes about nine hours.

The airline said it is working closely with authorities both in Nairobi and London who are investigating the matter.

At the same time, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) said that a joint investigation team had been constituted and is investigating the London incident.

"We wish to reiterate that safety and security is a priority at our airports and this incident is being treated with the seriousness it deserves," KAA said in a Twitter post..

In 2013, a passenger suspected to have secretly boarded a KQ flight from Bombay in India to Nairobi was found dead when the plane arrived at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.