Kenya flight ‘stowaway’ body found in Clapham garden

Milton Nyakundi
July 2, 2019 ·2 min read ·92 views
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A suspected stowaway who is believed to have fallen from the landing gear of a flight into Heathrow Airport has been found dead at a London garden.

The body – believed to be that of a man – was found in Clapham just before 15:40 BST on Sunday.

The individual is believed to have fallen from a Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi, police said.

A neighbour said the man fell a metre away from a resident, who had been sunbathing in the garden.

The man, who did not want to be named, said he heard a “whomp” so he looked out of an upstairs window and saw the body and “blood all over the walls of the garden”.

“So I went outside, and it was just then the neighbour came out and he was very shaken,” he said.


The body was found in a garden in Offerton Road, Clapham. PHOTO/COURTESY

The Met Police said a post-mortem examination will be carried out in due course and his death was not being treated as suspicious.

Kenya Airways said the aircraft was inspected and no damage was reported.

A bag, water and some food were found in the landing gear compartment on the aircraft when it landed.

A spokesman for the airline said: “The 6,840km (4250-mile) flight takes eight hours and 50 minutes. It is unfortunate that a person has lost his life by stowing aboard one of our aircraft and we express our condolences.

“Kenya Airways is working closely with the relevant authorities in Nairobi and London as they fully investigate this case.”

It is not the first death of this kind on the Heathrow flight path.

In June 2015, one man was found dead on the roof of notonthehighstreet.com’s headquarters on Kew Road, Richmond, while another was found in a critical condition after they both clung on to a British Airways flight from Johannesburg.

In August 2012, a man’s body was found in the undercarriage bay of a plane at Heathrow after a flight from Cape Town.

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About the Author

Milton Nyakundi

Milton Nyakundi Oriku is a veteran multimedia journalist with over 20 years’ experience across broadcast, digital, and print media. He is the founder and Managing Editor of Kurunzi News and serves as its Senior International Correspondent based in the United States. He previously worked at the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), rising to Assistant News Editor, and later served as Copy Editor at Mediamax Network. His career includes freelance commentary for major outlets such as KTN, and consultancy roles with Football Kenya Federation, StarTimes Kenya, and UAP‑Old Mutual. He is known for incisive political and sports reporting and evidence‑driven journalism.

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