Body of suspected stowaway falls off plane, found in London garden

The body of a man who is believed to have fallen from an airplane has been found in a garden in south London, the Metropolitan Police have said.

Ambulance and police services were called to a residential road in Clapham on Sunday afternoon after the discovery of a body and a crime scene was established at the site, the Telegraph reported.

But Scotland Yard have said: "At this point, police believe the man was a stowaway and had fallen from the landing gear of an inbound Kenya Airways flight to Heathrow Airport."

A post-mortem examination will be carried out in due course but the death is not being treated as suspicious, and police are working to establish the man's identity.

A bag, water and some food were discovered in the landing gear compartment once the Kenyan flight landed at the airport.

Offerton Road, Clapham, where the body was found. Photo / Google Maps

A statement from Kenya Airways said: "The 6,840km flight takes eight hours 50 minutes. It is unfortunate that a person has lost his life by stowing aboard one of our aircraft and we express our condolences."

The Met's Aviation Policing Command will be liaising with the airline and international authorities to establish the full circumstances of the incident.

In 2012, Jose Matada, 26, from Mozambique, died after falling from the Heathrow-bound flight from Angola.

His body was found on the pavement of Portman Avenue, in south-west London and West London Coroner's Court heard the stowaway may have been 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.

A woman who he had been in contact with via text messages said that Mr Matada "desired to travel to Europe for a better life".