Here's an update on the story:
2nd stowaway at JFK
By MARTIN MBUGUA
DAILY NEWS POLICE BUREAU
A stowaway was found dead last night in the wheel well of a passenger jet that had flown to Kennedy Airport from London, authorities said.
It was the second time in a week that a dead stowaway turned up at the airport, raising further concerns about airline security while the nation is in a heightened state of alert because of terror threats.
Port Authority spokesman Tony Ciavolella said British Airways officials notified PA cops after the man's body was discovered during a maintenance inspection of the Boeing 747-400 about 6:30 p.m.
"It's really scary to know that people can just walk up to a plane that way in other countries," a law enforcement source said. "Obviously, the biggest threat is somebody who gets on a plane as a suicide bomber. He might not make it, but that stuff can go off, and where is the wheel well? Between the fuel tanks."
British Airways spokeswoman Honor Verrier said, "There did appear to be a body of an apparent stowaway."
Flight 177 originated in London, she said.
The law enforcement source said authorities were investigating whether the man had slipped aboard in Nigeria, where the plane had taken off Dec. 24. The source said the stowaway, who was black and in his 30s, was carrying Nigerian currency and wearing a wrist watch that stopped at 7 p.m. Christmas Eve.
Since last Wednesday, the plane has also made stops in Cairo, London, Washington and New York, the source said. He noted it was virtually impossible for anyone to survive a trip in a wheel well because of the freezing temperatures and oxygen deprivation at high altitudes.
The FBI has launched an investigation into the case.
Last week, a stowaway was found dead in the wheel well of an American Airlines jet at Kennedy.
The unidentified 25-year-old man was found on Christmas Eve by maintenance workers inspecting an aircraft that had arrived from Montego Bay, Jamaica.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/loca...p-132879c.html
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It's a common story, often these incidents don't make the news in my experience. They occur quite frequently at international airports.
Here's some earlier threads on the sad subject:
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...threadid=50291
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...hreadid=107041
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...threadid=79165
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...threadid=77846
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...&threadid=2140