Body Found in Undercarriage of Plane Arriving from Tangier

The man, whose identity has not yet been established, is believed to have accessed the aircraft’s landing gear compartment before the plane departed from Tangier.

Rabat– The body of a man has been found in the landing gear of a plane that landed at London Gatwick Airport after arriving from Morocco, authorities have confirmed.

Emergency services were called after the discovery was made in the undercarriage of an Air Arabia flight that arrived from Tangier at around 11:45 BST on Tuesday.

A spokesperson for Gatwick Airport in West Sussex confirmed the incident, saying airport teams immediately assisted Sussex Police and HM Coroner in their inquiries. “A body was found, and our teams subsequently supported Sussex Police and the coroner,” the spokesperson said. “Our thoughts are with everyone affected.”

Sussex Police said an investigation has been launched to establish the circumstances surrounding the death, while Air Arabia has been contacted for comment.

The airport noted that similar incidents, although rare, have occurred in the past. In December 2022, the body of a man was found in the landing gear of a TUI flight that had arrived from Banjul, the capital of The Gambia, after a journey of around 2,760 miles (4,444 km) lasting approximately six and a half hours.

A spokesperson for the Gambian government at the time said the deceased was an unidentified Black male.

Cases involving stowaways attempting to access aircraft landing gear have been recorded on other occasions in the UK. In 2001, the body of 21-year-old Mohammed Ayaz from Pakistan was discovered in the car park of a DIY store near Heathrow Airport. Four years earlier, another stowaway fell from a Heathrow-bound aircraft onto a nearby gasworks.