A body discovered in a garden in south London is believed to have fallen from the landing gear compartment of a Kenya Airways flight.
Police say they are trying to identify the individual, believed to be male, after the body was found at a residential address in Clapham on Sunday afternoon.
"At this point, police believe the man was a stowaway and had fallen from the landing gear of an inbound Kenya Airways flight to Heathrow Airport," Metropolitan Police said in a statement issued on Monday.
"A bag, water and some food were discovered in the landing gear compartment once it landed at the airport."
The Press Association news agency cited a neighbour as saying the body "landed one metre away from" a man sunbathing in his back garden.
General view of the road in Clapham, south London where the body of a suspected stowaway is believed to have fallen from a passenger plane. Source: Press Association
"I heard a 'whomp'. I went upstairs to look out of a window," it quoted the unnamed resident as saying.
"He had all of his clothes on and everything. I had a closer look and saw there was blood all over the walls of the garden.
"His head was not in a good way. I realised immediately that he had fallen," the neighbour said, adding that a plane spotter saw the body fall.
Police said the death is not being treated as suspicious and inquiries are underway to establish the "full circumstances".
Undated screen grabbed image taken from the FlightRadar website showing the flight path of a Kenya Airways flight. Source: Press Association
In 2015, a body found on the roof of a southwest London business was believed to be that of a stowaway who fell from a British Airways flight from South Africa.
People flying in passenger planes outside the pressurized cabins are subjected to freezing temperatures and a lack of oxygen at the high altitudes at which the aircraft fly.
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