Stowaway African plunges to death as aircraft's undercarriage gear opens before landing at London Heathrow airport

The only pieces of evidence left on the scene today were dark smears on the pavement where the blood was cleared up and a bunch of lilies and a rose left by neighbours to mark the spot.




Richard Taylor, from the Civil Aviation Authority, said this kind of incident was not the first of its kind and added that there was very little chance of survival for stowaways.

He said: ‘The temperatures in the undercarriage reach -40C (-40F) at high altitudes, so the person has basically frozen to death. There is virtually no chance of someone surviving that.'
 
‘It is a very dangerous environment. Very often people get crushed to death by the landing gear when it retracts.



'It is surprising that people still do it. I guess they don't realise they have very little chance of surviving.'