Man’s body found on undercarriage of plane that flew from Gambia to UK

Flight from Gambia to Britain takes around six hours on average and plane would have arrived into freezing conditions

An aircraft comes into land as the runway is reopened at Gatwick Airport (file photo) (Getty Images)

A man’s body has been found in the undercarriage of a plane that flew from Gambia to the UK, police have said.

Sussex Police said the discovery was made at Gatwick Airport in the early hours of the morning on 7 December.

In a statement, the force said: “Police were called after the body of a man was found in the undercarriage of an aircraft at Gatwick Airport, arriving from Gambia, at about 4am on 7 December.

“Officers are investigating and a report will be prepared for HM Coroner.”

Gambia’s government spokesman said in a statement on Tuesday that an unidentified body of a black male was found on a jet operated by TUI Airways that had flown from the Gambian capital of Banjul to Gatwick.

“According to the information, the deceased black male was found within the wheel bay of the aircraft without identification documents to establish his name, age, nationality, or travel itinerary,” Ebrima G. Sankareh said.

He said the body had been taken to the morgue for DNA testing and an investigation is underway.

A flight from Gambia to Britain takes around six hours on average.

The aircraft landed at the major airport while icy temperatures swept through the UK, with highs of just 5C recorded at Gatwick.

Almost one month prior to this incident, airport workers found a dead body in the undercarriage of a jet that had arrived from Iran on into Germany.

Employees at Frankfurt airport discovered the body of a male in the landing gear of a Lufthansa jet that had arrived from Tehran.

Police told CNN at the time that the body was discovered during a routine maintenance check at 5.30am.

In 2019, a stowaway reportedly fell from an aircraft flying over London and dropped into a residential garden at the feet of a sunbathing man, according to reports.

The body was traced to the undercarriage of Kenya Airways flight KQ 100 that left from Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

London’s Metropolitan Police that the victim appeared to have fallen from the landing gear compartment as the plane approached London’s Heathrow Airport.