Stowaway that dropped from KQ flight yet to be identified a week later

Officials are yet to identify the stowaway passenger who dropped off the landing gear of Kenya Airways aircraft moments before landing at London’s Heathrow Airport.

More than a week since the incident happened, the multi-agency team selected to investigate the incident said Tuesday the passenger is still unknown.

The team said it is analyzing fingerprints of the victim and that all staff and stakeholders who were on duty on June 30, 2019 have been accounted for.

“The Multiagency team conducting the investigation has reviewed more than 1000 hours of CCTV footage. No finding of intrusion or suspicious activity has been observed on the recordings,” Kenya Airports Authority said in a statement Tuesday.

The authority added employees who were on duty on June 29 and 30 2019 are still being interviewed.

“So far none of the interviewed ground staff and crew have reported any suspicious activities or observations during the period in question.”

It added their perimeter fence is 100 percent intact and that all the entry points to the airside at JKIA are 100 percent functional.

“No evidence has been found that the airport’s perimeter has been breached. The multiagency team that involves various security organs is continuing with investigations into the incident with the identity of the Stowaway passenger being a priority.”

The incident raised queries on the quality of checks at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) before the plane took off for the 6,840km flight that takes 8 hours and 50 minutes.

Stowing refers to secretly boarding vessels such as a ship, or an aircraft in order to travel without paying and without being detected.

It is not yet clear who the person was and at what stage he boarded the landing gear. The plane had originated from South Africa.

British authorities supplied with Kenya the fingerprints of the body to help identify him in Kenya if he is Kenyan.

The Metropolitan Police in London informed KQ officials of the Sunday incident and the airline said KQ said on June 30 at about 3.41pm (UK time), a body of a yet to be identified man landed in a garden in the Borough of Lambeth, South London suggesting the stowaway was hidden in the undercarriage of the aircraft.

KQ said the owner of the garden in which the stowaway fell had called the police who tracked the flight radar to KQ flight 100.

On inspecting the aircraft, the UK police discovered a bag containing food and some clothing at the rear left landing gear.

The high altitude flown by planes on such routes would make it impossible for a person to survive with temperatures at cruising altitude getting as low as minus 56 °C and oxygen supply diminishing.