Body of man found in landing gear compartment of plane arriving in Britain from Morocco

A man died inside the wheel bay of an Air Arabia aircraft that had flown from the Moroccan city of Tangier to Britain’s Gatwick Airport, after being exposed to extreme cold and a severe lack of oxygen.

The man’s body was found on June 16, after an engineer discovered it while carrying out checks on the aircraft following its arrival. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to British media reports published on Tuesday.

A post-mortem examination found that the death was caused by cardiac arrest, oxygen deprivation, and hypothermia. Speaking before the coroner’s court in Horsham, the pathologist explained that aircraft wheel compartments are subject to extremely low temperatures and limited oxygen levels.

The coroner for the area added that he had reason to believe the death was “unnatural.”

The same source said the inquest into the circumstances of the death had been adjourned until February 24, 2027.