Mystery of man found dead in plane landing gear at Gatwick Airport

The body of a stowaway was discovered in the landing gear of a passenger plane from North Africa.

The body of a man was found hidden in the landing gear compartment under the Air Arabia plane, which touched down at Gatwick Airport on Tuesday.

The man, who has not been identified, managed to climb into the gear well before the plane departed from Tangier, Morocco.

It landed at the UK’s second busiest airport at about 11.45am.

The alarm was raised after the discovery in the Airbus A320’s landing gear.

It is understood that the cargo team found the body.

A source told The Sun: ‘It’s a tragedy. The cargo team unloading the plane had a horrible shock.

‘Everyone is devastated that anyone would feel so desperate they would risk their life in this way.’

Sussex Police told Metro: ‘Police were called after the body of a man was found in the undercarriage of an aircraft at Gatwick Airport, arriving from Tangier, at about 11.45am on Tuesday, June16. 

‘Officers are investigating and a report will be prepared for HM Coroner.’

Plane tracking website Flightradar24 shows the Airbus jet departed from Tangier Ibn Battouta Airport at about 6.23am and travelled over Spain and western France before preparing to land at Gatwick at planned.

Metro has contacted Air Arabia for a comment.

Climbing into the wheel well of a plane is dangerous, and it has resulted in stowaway tragedies.

It is the most used method, and over 77% of people who have tried doing so have died, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration.

The landing gear can crush them when it moves, and frostbite can lead to hypothermia along with low oxygen levels when the plane ascends.

A body was found inside the landing gear of an American Airlines plane at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in September. The plane had come from an unnamed European destination.

Since the stowaway practice is illegal, identifying the victims can prove difficult for detectives.

In 2019, the body of a man fell from a plane and landed in a garden in Clapham, south London.

The body fell from the plane from Nairobi, Kenya, and landed three feet from a sunbathing homeowner sitting in his garden on Offerton Road.

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