Body of stowaway found in US flight from China

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - The body of a suspected stowaway was discovered in the landing gear of a United Airlines passenger jet shortly after it touched down in San Francisco from China, officials said yesterday.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the body of a male was discovered in the nose gear of United Airlines flight 858 from Shanghai by maintenance workers at around 7:30 am (1430 GMT).

Gregor said the death highlighted the perils of attempting to stowaway in the under-carriages of passenger jets.

The FAA was aware of 74 instances of people trying to hide in wheel wells of passenger planes since 1947. Only 15 had ever survived, Gregor said.

"The mortality rate for this is around 79.7 percent," Gregor told AFP, citing prolonged exposure to sub-zero temperatures.

"It's extremely dangerous and invariably leads to death. Most people die because they are crushed by the landing gear, they freeze or they fall out of the plane," he said.

The most recent case of somebody surviving came in 2004, when a stowaway hid in a flight from the Dominican Republic to Miami, Gregor added.