Man dies of cold and lack of oxygen in Gatwick Airport plane wheel well

An unidentified man died in the wheel well of an Air Arabia plane during a flight from Tangiers, Morocco, to London Gatwick. His body was discovered by a ground engineer during a routine check of the landing gear area after the aircraft landed on June 16, 2026.

Cause of death

An inquest into the death revealed that the man died from cardiac arrest. This was brought on by hypoxia, a lack of oxygen at high altitude, and hypothermia, caused by the extreme cold within the wheel well. Temperatures in such compartments can plummet to as low as -63 degrees Celsius.

Reasons for stowaway attempts

While the specific motivations of the deceased man remain unknown, it is understood that the majority of aircraft stowaways are men seeking to escape poverty, conflict, or persecution in their home countries. They hope to reach destinations in Europe or North America for safety or a better life. Refugee experts have suggested that a lack of legal and accessible immigration routes contributes to individuals taking such extreme risks.

Survival rates

Surviving a journey as an aircraft stowaway is exceptionally rare. Between 1947 and 2012, an estimated 23 out of 96 known stowaways survived such attempts, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration. Those who have survived often did so on shorter flights or at lower altitudes. Several instances have been documented, including a 20-year-old Romanian man found alive at Heathrow in June 2010 after his flight remained below 25,000 feet due to bad weather.

Despite these rare survival stories, experts emphasise that there is no safe way to travel in an aircraft's landing gear. The risks include extreme cold, oxygen deprivation, and the danger of being crushed by retracting landing gear or falling to the ground upon descent.