Kenyan and the United Kingdom (UK) authorities are investigating a case of security breach by UK bound Kenya Airways KQ flight 100 in which a suspected stowaway dropped to his death minutes before the plane landed at Heathrow Airport over the weekend.
Although KQ management, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) and the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) said they are seized of the matter, insiders say KAA managers are hard pressed to explain how presence of the yet to be identified man was not detected in the undercarriage before the plane departed from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
The glaring security breach occurred a day after KQ Chief Operating Officer Jan de Vegt resigned from the airline citing lack of support from the airline as reason for his departure. “Kenya Airways decided to stop all support by KLM.
“For this reason, I am returning to Amsterdam… as there will be no COO in KQ from now on, I will close this account. Until we meet again,” read the tweet which marked his abrupt departure from the airline. Vegt said through a Twitter post.
Curiously, the posts were later deleted. Also, the current Chief Executive Officer Sebastian Miksoz is expected to relinquish his position at the end of the year. “We have been informed by authorities in London that on June 30th at approximately 1541 hours (UK time) a body of a yet to be identified male stowaway was discovered in South London.
The body was traced to the undercarriage of KQ flight 100 that departed from JKIA. All relevant security organs have been informed, a joint investigation team has been constituted and is investigating the incident,” a statement from KAA read in part.
The Metropolitan Police in London have informed KQ officials of the incident. On their part, KQ the UK police are already in contact with the Kenyan High Commission to help identify and name the person.
“On inspecting the aircraft, the police discovered a bag containing food and some clothing at the rear left landing gear. The body had no identification document. The incident has been treated as a sudden death and is now a police matter,” KQ director of communications Dennis Kashero said.