Plane stowaway’s body found on London roof

Second man recovering in hospital after clinging to flight from South Africa for 11 hours

File photo  of British Airways aircraft parked at the airline’s engineering base at London’s Heathrow airport. The two men are believed to have clung on to a British Airways plane as it flew more than 8,000 miles (12,875 km) from Johannesburg in South Africa to Heathrow.  Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA Wire
File photo of British Airways aircraft parked at the airline’s engineering base at London’s Heathrow airport. The two men are believed to have clung on to a British Airways plane as it flew more than 8,000 miles (12,875 km) from Johannesburg in South Africa to Heathrow. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA Wire

A stowaway has plunged to his death from a plane and landed on a shop in a high street in London. A second man who did not fall from the plane is being treated in hospital.

The two men are believed to have clung on to a British Airways plane as it flew more than 8,000 miles (12,875 km) from Johannesburg in South Africa to Heathrow.

The victim fell on to a shop in Richmond, south west London, which is below the flight path, yesterday morning.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "We were called at 9.35am on Thursday 18 June to Kew Road, Richmond, to reports of a body discovered.

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“Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended and found the body of a dead man on the roof of a business premises. The death is currently being treated as unexplained.

“A post- mortem examination will be held in due course and inquiries are ongoing to establish the male’s identity. No arrests have been made.

“In regards to the male who survived, police were alerted at 8.28am on 18 June to reports of a suspected stowaway on a flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow.

“The man, aged believed to be between 25 to 30, has been taken to a west London hospital and currently remains in a serious condition. Inquiries are ongoing to establish the man’s identity.”

PA