A stowaway fell thousands of feet from a plane on to a quiet suburban street after apparently hiding in the landing gear.
The body of the victim, in his thirties and from North Africa, was discovered in an affluent London neighbourhood under the Heathrow flight path.
Aviation experts say he was probably dead before he hit the ground either because he had been crushed by the retracting landing gear shortly after the plane took off or because of the extreme cold at high altitude.
It is thought the man’s body dropped from the aircraft undercarriage as the plane came in to land.
Residents on the tree-lined road in Mortlake, on the south bank of the Thames less than ten miles from the airport, yesterday spoke of their shock on finding the body after hearing a loud bang.
Billy Watson, 26, a security guard who lives opposite where the man fell, said he saw the body ‘a(chǎn)ll twisted up’.
He said: ‘It is unbelievable. The first thing I thought when I saw the body was that it must have fallen from quite a height.
‘You could tell by the way his body was mangled. There was a big pool of blood coming from his head.’
Richard Taylor, of the Civil Aviation Authority, said a stowaway in an aircraft undercarriage was unlikely to have survive as he would either be crushed by the wheels after take-off or freeze in temperatures as low as minus 40C .
He said: ‘The chances of survival for a stowaway are very slim, particularly in the recess of the landing gear. I don’t know of anyone who has survived being stowed away on a long-haul flight.
Police said they were investigating whether the body was that of a stowaway.’
The discovery comes just over a fortnight after the body of a stowaway was found in the landing gear recess of a BA plane arriving at Heathrow from Cape Town.英國某條安靜的郊區(qū)街道近日從數(shù)千英尺的高空“天降”男尸，看起來死者是一名藏在飛機(jī)起落架上的偷渡者。
這名死者來自北非，現(xiàn)年30多歲，事發(fā)地點位于富裕的倫敦郊區(qū)，處于希思羅機(jī)場航線下方。
航空專家認(rèn)為，該男子在落地之前已經(jīng)死亡，死于飛機(jī)起飛后不久起落架收起時的擠壓，或者高空的極寒。
據(jù)稱，飛機(jī)著陸的過程中，該男子的尸體從起落架上掉落。
莫特萊克位于泰晤士河南岸，距離希思羅機(jī)場不到10英里。這里的街道樹木成排，居民談到，昨天街頭突然一聲巨響，然后看到這名男子橫尸街頭，感到非常震驚。
26歲的保安比利?沃森說，看到尸體已經(jīng)“完全扭曲”了。他居住在男子墜落地點的對面。
他說：“簡直令人難以置信。我一看到尸體就覺得一定是從高空掉下來的。”
“尸體整個扭曲著，頭上還流出一大灘血。”
英國民用航空局的理查德?泰勒認(rèn)為，藏在飛機(jī)起落架上的偷渡者沒有機(jī)會幸存，有可能在飛機(jī)起飛后受起落架的擠壓，或者難耐高空零下40度的極寒。
他說：“偷渡者生還的可能性非常小，尤其是藏身在起落架上。我還沒聽過能夠幸免于長途旅行的偷渡者。”
警察已經(jīng)對此事展開調(diào)查，以確定該男子是不是偷渡者。
兩周前，英國航空公司一架從開普敦飛往希思羅機(jī)場的航班起落架隱蔽處也曾發(fā)現(xiàn)一具偷渡者尸體。
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