A stowaway fell from the undercarriage of a jet as it approached Heathrow Airport after a nine-hour flight from Nairobi, landing in a south London garden, according to police and airline officials.
The Metropolitan Police force confirmed on Monday that the body of an unidentified man was found in a residential garden in South London’s Clapham area on Sunday, and it’s believed he fell from a plane.
The body has not yet been identified.
The body fell within a metre of a man who was sunbathing in his garden.
The sunbather, in his 20s, was dozing in the garden of the terraced house as the body hit with such force it left a crater in the lawn and smashed a path.
A friend of his said he was just lucky not to be hit and killed.
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The sunbather, who rents the house in Clapham, South London, with friends, has left London and is staying with his family.
Kenya Airways said police traced the body to its Nairobi-London flight.
A bag, water and food were discovered in the plane’s landing-gear compartment after it landed.
Stowing away in a plane’s undercarriage is exceptionally dangerous.
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Experts believe roughly three-quarters of stowaways do not survive because of the extreme cold and lack of oxygen as the plane reaches cruising altitude.
Police said a post-mortem would be held to determine the cause of death.