Stowaway's body falls from plane on to London street

The body of a man thought to have stowed away on a plane has fallen thousands of metres on to a British street after he died during the flight.

The man, in his thirties and from North Africa, was found on the street of a suburb which is under the flight path for London's Heathrow Airport.

Aviation experts told Britain's Daily Mail that the man was probably dead before he hit the ground and that he had either died because of the extreme low temperatures during the flight or been crushed by landing gear soon after the plane took off.

Mortlake is an affluent suburb about 16km from Heathrow. It is thought the man's body fell from the plane as it came in to land.

Resident Billy Watson, 26, told the Daily Mail: "It is unbelievable. The first thing I thought when I saw the body was that it must have fallen from quite a height."

Catherine Lambert said: "We just wonder what made him get in that plane and want so badly to escape"

Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Richard Taylor said temperatures during the flight could drop to minus 40C.

"The chances of survival for a stowaway are very slim, particularly in the recess of the landing gear," he old the Daily Mail.