A person was found dead in the wheel well of an Airbus A320 at London Gatwick Airport on June 16, in what authorities are treating as a suspected stowaway incident following a flight from Tangier, Morocco operated by Air Arabia Maroc.
Ground personnel discovered the body during routine post-arrival inspections shortly after the aircraft landed at approximately 11:45 AM local time. Emergency services secured the scene and investigators began assessing the circumstances. The UK Civil Aviation Authority and Moroccan aviation authorities are coordinating the investigation.
Wheel well stowaways face near-certain death. Temperatures in landing gear compartments drop to around minus 56 degrees Celsius at cruising altitude, and the compartment is unpressurized — conditions incompatible with survival on flights exceeding 35,000 feet. Such incidents, while rare, expose persistent gaps in pre-departure perimeter security at origin airports.
Air Arabia Maroc is the low-cost subsidiary of regional carrier Air Arabia, operating routes across North Africa and Europe under EASA safety certification. Gatwick declined to comment on specific security protocols while the investigation remains open.
Why It Matters: Stowaway incidents are a reminder that airport perimeter security — particularly at origin airports outside major Western hubs — remains an ongoing vulnerability in the global aviation system. Gatwick has handled these situations before, and they always trigger renewed scrutiny of ground security procedures on both ends of the route.
Source: BBC
