In another reminder of the foolishness of stowing away on a commercial airliner, a man fell from the undercarriage of a Kenya Airways 787 and was found dead in a south London garden.
The man, who has not yet been identified beyond being Kenyan, was found in the Clapham area of London on Sunday. In an interesting twist, the man fell just three feet from a sunbather laying in his garden. The stowaway had become a frozen block of ice and caused substantial damage to the pavement (pictures here).
Police traced the body to Kenya Airways Flight 100, a 787 flight from Nairobi to London Heathrow. On that aircraft, a food, water, and a bag containing the man’s belongings were found in the aircraft’s landing-gear compartment. He was believed to have been an airport employee in Nairobi.
This is hardly the first instance of a stowaway attempt, but the sad commonality amongst similar narratives is that they usually end in death. The lack of oxygen and extreme cold at cruising altitude makes survival virtually impossible.
As the Associated Press noted:
Though not common, stowaways have in the past plunged to the streets of London as planes lowered their landing gear. In September 2012, a 30-year old from Mozambique, Jose Matada, died after falling from the undercarriage of a Heathrow-bound flight from Angola.
CONCLUSION
What a said story. What would drive someone to risk their life in that way? Was life that horrible in Kenya? Perhaps we will never know. But stowing away simply does not work. And had he been fallen at a slightly different angle, he may have killed another man in his path…
image: Nicky Boogaard / Flickr
A world with open borders prevents this kind of needless tragedy. How tragic and completely unnecessary!
A world with open borders exports the tragedy this man fled from to the entire world. Over my dead body, literally.
However, I definitely think there is room to self-select. Some of us can choose nation-states, the rest of you can choose your open borders paradise. Just don’t force me to pay for your fetishes.
Terribly sad story. Could it be the Kenyan had no ill intention here? My thinking is that it could of been a baggage handler and the door was closed while he was loading baggage. Is that far off to think?
There was no door.
“The man, clad in a blue T-shirt and jeans, is yet to be identified. It is known that he snuck in the landing gear on the flight leaving from Nairobi (Jomo Kenyatta International Airport) to London Heathrow. “
@Izz – That would be quite a stretch. Besides the fact that he appeared to have food and supplies for the journey in the landing gear. There’s literally no reason for anyone but a maintenance tech to be in the landing gear area.
This has to end. The British government needs to put its foot down and make clear it will deport everyone who immigrates illegally or files a false asylum claim. These people need to be deported immediately and a message sent that this violation of the borders and sovereignty of Britain will no longer occur. This will stop these people hiding in airplanes and boats if they know they won’t get to stay.
@jack thomspk
What?
This isn’t about the UK government, and unfortunately there’s nothing they can do to prevent it (short of managing every maintenance team in airports that have flights to London and making sure no one sneaks onto planes)
Also, while this man was clearly foolish in doing this, think about what must have led him to do so. Life must have been really awful. I’ve seen the slums in Nairobi (the biggest one houses over 200K people) and they are dreadful. People do things for a reason and they deserve compassion.
Anyone whose asylum claim is found to be undeserving IS deported under the current arrangements.
However it’s a real pity that the British government is, fo now, locked into offering residency to any scumbag from Europe who chooses to come. I’m sure the majority of European arrivals are law-abiding contributors; unfortunately many others are some of the biggest lowlife ratbags on God’s earth ( eg, the predatory Eastern European pickpockets in the case of the Thai tourists yesterday). But they breeze through LHR, while the rest of us form a queue.
As for the unpleasant end of this chap: at least he would have been long dead before the final fall ( and not an unpleasant death, however tragic for him and his family).
While Africans commit a disproportionate amount of crime and violence (90% of crime involving blacks and whites is black on white), yes some Eastern Europeans in the U.K commit a higher amount of crime than native Brits. I heard there was a higher rate of assault on women by polish men. As someone with some polish heritage I find it ridiculous that the U.K doesn’t stop these polish men from coming over until it can figure out tougher standards. The UK has enough people. It certainly doesn’t need anymore poles or Africans yet people will still say poles deserve to immigrate to the UK.
It really does have to end. Death is no joke.
Getting into a 787s landing gear compartment isn’t risking ones life. It is suicide. Without some sort of special gear it is impossible to survive.