Two suspected stowaways — one of whom fell to his death onto a south London rooftop — apparently hid in the wheel well of a commercial flight from South Africa, facing freezing temperatures on the 11-hour flight.
One man apparently fell onto the roof of a Richmond business as the plane passed overhead, while the second is in
serious condition at a London hospital, Sky News reported.
It has not been confirmed that the man who was killed when he fell onto the roof was a stowaway.
"At this time there is no evidence to link the death to the discovery of a stowaway in the undercarriage of a plane at Heathrow Airport; however this is one line of enquiry into identifying the deceased and the circumstances of his death," London police said in a statement quoted by Sky News.
Both men are unidentified. The men are believed to have clung to the undercarriage of a British Airways Boeing 747 for the 8,000-mile flight from Johannesburg to London.
The flight originated from the O.R. Tambo International
Airport, The Guardian reported, and concerns are being raised about how the stowaways were able to get on the flight.
"It’s a security breach … we need to find out how and why this happened," Colin Naidoo, a spokesman for Airports Company South Africa, which manages the airport, told The Guardian. "It’s very rare for this to happen in South Africa."
"That this incident appears to have originated in Johannesburg, a major international airport, will worry airport security experts, who have pointed out that if a stowaway can reach a plane’s exterior and hide, planting an explosive could also be possible,"
The Guardian wrote.
Numerous stowaways on flights have died or been critically injured over the years.
“Aviation experts say only a quarter of stowaways manage to survive hiding on a plane's undercarriage — as they face a lack of oxygen, sub-zero temperatures, and the risk of being crushed by the aircraft's wheels on take-off,” Sky News reported.