The body of the victim, in his thirties and from North Africa, was discovered in an affluent⁴（富裕的，丰富的） London neighbourhood under the Heathrow flight path.

 

Aviation experts say he was probably dead before he hit the ground either because he had been crushed by the retracting⁵ landing gear shortly after the plane took off or because of the extreme cold at high altitude.

 

It is thought the man's body dropped from the aircraft undercarriage（飞机起落架） as the plane came in to land.

 

Residents on the tree-lined road in Mortlake, on the south bank of the Thames less than ten miles from the airport, yesterday spoke⁶ of their shock on finding the body after hearing a loud bang.

 

Billy Watson, 26, a security guard who lives opposite where the man fell, said he saw the body 'all twisted up'.

 

He said: 'It is unbelievable. The first thing I thought when I saw the body was that it must have fallen from quite a height.

 

'You could tell by the way his body was mangled⁷. There was a big pool of blood coming from his head.'

 

Richard Taylor, of the Civil Aviation Authority, said a stowaway in an aircraft undercarriage was unlikely to have survive as he would either be crushed by the wheels after take-off or freeze in temperatures as low as minus 40C .

 

He said: 'The chances of survival for a stowaway are very slim, particularly in the recess⁸ of the landing gear. I don't know of anyone who has survived being stowed away on a long-haul flight.

 

Police said they were investigating whether the body was that of a stowaway（匿身处，偷渡者）.'

 

The discovery comes just over a fortnight after the body of a stowaway was found in the landing gear recess of a BA plane arriving at Heathrow from Cape⁹ Town.

点击收听单词发音