A neighbour heard the sound as something heavy landed in the garden of a Clapham, South London home at around 3:30 pm on Sunday afternoon. It turned out a body had fallen from the sky, landing in the garden, close to where the neighbour was tracking the Kenya Airways flight at the time. The body landed at around the same time the plane headed in to land.
As noted by the Manchester Evening News, paramedics and police were called to the scene, but the man was immediately pronounced as dead. A post-mortem will be carried out on the body of the man, whose age and identity is currently unknown.
Metropolitan Police have today said they believe he was a stowaway on a Kenya Airways plane, which was heading in to land at London Heathrow Airport close by.
Belongings found in landing gear compartment of Kenya Airways plane
When the Kenya Airways plane landed in London Heathrow Airport, a bag, some water and food were found in the landing gear compartment. This led the Metropolitan police to believe the dead man had been a stowaway on that flight.
Pictured: Massive crater left in garden after frozen stowaway migrant plunged 3,500ft from Kenya Airways jet https://t.co/VnxFnXRym5 pic.twitter.com/j9hcHDD3pP
— Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) July 2, 2019
A neighbour, not wishing to be named, told the BBC he had heard a “whomp” sound as something fell.
He looked out of his upstairs window and spotted the body lying in the garden and blood spattered over the walls. He said he went outside and saw his neighbour who was very shaken. The neighbour said he had been following the Kenyan Airways flight using a plane tracking app and had seen the body fall.
Crime scene set up
However, police are still trying to identify the man.
Scotland Yard released a statement to say police had been called to the home on Sunday, 30 June after a body was found in a garden. The London Ambulance Service accompanied the police officers at the scene. The statement continued by saying the body of a man had been found. A crime scene was set up at the house, located on Offerton Road, Clapham, while police officers carried out their investigation, but it has since been removed, as the death is not considered to be suspicious.
London police believe an African stowaway plummeted to his death from the landing gear of a Kenya Airways jet approaching Heathrow. https://t.co/JjszgxmDSM
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) July 2, 2019
Scotland Yard continued by saying police believe the man was a stowaway on the Kenya Airways flight to Heathrow Airport and had died after falling from the landing gear compartment of the plane. Enquiries are continuing with airline and international authorities.
Investigation into Kenya Airways stowaway continues
According to Kenya Airways, the plane was inspected and had suffered no damage in the incident. Their spokesman said the flight covered 6,840 km (4,250 mi) and took eight hours and 50 minutes.
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
The spokesman said it was unfortunate that the man had lost his life by stowing away on their aircraft and the airline offered its condolences. The airline is now working closely with the relevant authorities in London and Nairobi as the case is investigated.