Gatwick Airport ground crew in London find body of man hidden in landing gear of Air Arabia flight

The body of a man has been found inside the landing gear of a plane with ground crews making the grim find shortly after the flight landed at a London airport.

The shock discovery was made in the undercarriage of an Air Arabia flight arrived at London’s Gatwick Airport from Tangier, Morocco, about 11.45am local time on Tuesday, the BBC reported.

Police have launched an investigation into what led to incident, with an airport spokesperson confirming they were supporting police and the coroner with its inquires.

An Air Arabia spokesperson told The Sun that “an incident was identified upon the arrival of Air Arabia Maroc Flight 3O102 from Tangier to London Gatwick on 16 June 2026, and the relevant authorities were immediately notified”.

“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this incident. We remain in close coordination with the relevant authorities with regards to the investigation,” they said.

It is not the first incident of its kind in London, with several other reported deaths of stowaways in recent years.

A man died in December 2022 in a similar incident at Gatwick Airport when he was discovered in the undercarriage of a Tui Flight from Gambia.

In 2019 a man fell from a Kenya Airways plane’s landing gear as it approached Heathrow Airport.

His body was found several kilometres away in a home garden.

Another man also fell to his death in 2015 after travelling in the undercarriage of a plane from Johannesburg. His body was found in the carpark of a shop in South West London.

It was reported at the time that a South African man on the same flight miraculously survived the 11-hour flight by clinging to the landing gear on the plane.