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A stowaway is reported to have fallen to his death after clinging to the bottom of a Boeing 747 as it flew over west London yesterday.
The man reportedly plunged from the British Airways aircraft on to the offices of a clothes business in Kew.
He is said to have held onto the aircraft’s wheel as it reached Heathrow after travelling almost 8,000 miles from South Africa, The Sun reported.
A second stowaway survived the incident, a Metropolitan Police spokesman told ITV News, and is being treated at a west London hospital.
The spokesman said: “On Thursday June 18 at about 8.30am, police received reports of suspect stowaway on a flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow.
“A man between aged between 25-30, is currently in a west London hospital and enquires are ongoing. The man is in a serious but stable condition.
“At 9.35am, officers received a call to reports of a body discovered on top of a building in Kew, West London.
“The death is described as unexplained.
“A post mortem will be held in due course, and investigations are ongoing as to whether the deceased was a possible stowaway.”
A BA spokesman said: “We are working with the Metropolitan Police and the authorities in Johannesburg to establish the facts surrounding this very rare case.”