UK/London - 'Plane stowaway' body found on notonthehighstreet.com roof

wfgodot

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  • #1
BBC:

'Plane stowaway' body found on Richmond roof

A stowaway who is believed to have clung on to a plane has fallen to his death, while another is in hospital.

The two men are believed to have been clinging to a British Airways flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow.

The victim was found on the roof of notonthehighstreet.com's headquarters on Kew Road, Richmond, at about 09:35 BST on Thursday. Police said his death was being treated as unexplained.

The man who was injured is in a critical condition in hospital.

The Met Police said it could not confirm if the two cases were linked.
---
more at links

Daily Mail:

Stowaway falls to his death from jet after 11-hour journey from South Africa
 
  • #2
"LONDON -- A man is in critical condition in a London hospital after he was found stowed away in the undercarriage of a plane that had just completed a 10-hour flight, and police are investigating whether a man found dead on a west London rooftop had fallen from the same plane.

Authorities at Heathrow Airport found the man in the undercarriage of a British Airways plane after it landed Thursday morning on a flight from Johannesburg. Police say they believe they know his identity and that he is 24 but they are awaiting confirmation before they release any details.

While there is no evidence to link the two cases, police say they are looking into whether there is a connection to the body found an hour later in the west London community of Richmond, which is below the flight path.

British Airways said it is working with police in London and Johannesburg to establish the facts in this "rare case."

http://cnews.canoe.com/CNEWS/World/2015/06/19/22461906.html
 
  • #3
Sorry, correction - stowaway is in critical condition in hospital and not deceased, man found on rooftop is deceased.
 
  • #4
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-to-death-plane-london-shop-heathrow-richmond

"David Learmount, an aviation expert and consulting editor of Flight International magazine, said the fact that one of the two men survived the long flight suggests he may have been able to get into the baggage hold section of the aircraft, which would raise serious security questions.

“If these two were neither airline nor airport staff and somehow managed to get on a flight, then it becomes a serious security issue. Just how did they get [on the restricted] airside at the airport?

“Then there’s the question of just where on the plane these two were. If a person was in the wheel well of a plane on an 11-hour flight there’s really very little chance of surviving.

“You are either going to be frozen to death by temperatures of -50C or you are going to die through lack of oxygen with the plane flying at 35,000ft.”
"The victim fell on to the offices of the online marketplace Notonthehighstreet.com on a busy road.

Charles Campbell, 59, a carpenter from Ealing in west London, left a bunch of yellow flowers at the scene, saying that he thought no one else would. “He’s got a family and it’s Father’s Day on Sunday. This is not first time this has happened,” he said."
 
  • #5
  • #6
rbbm.
''Documentary-maker Bentley said the death of Vale – and many other stowaways – was unlikely to stop other people caught in desperate poverty stowing away on planes.

‘I’ve spoken to several stowaways and their story has been the same,’ he said. ‘People like Themba Cabeka are in an impossible situation and don’t have a choice.''

‘I had to leave Africa to survive. But I would give other people advice: It’s not safe. It’s a life-or-death situation.’

''The Man Who Fell From The Sky, Channel 4, tomorrow, 10pm''
 
  • #7
Must be desperate to attempt it, knowing the survival rate is so low.
 

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