The “lifeless body” of a child was found in the undercarriage of a jet that landed in Paris.
Air France confirmed Wednesday that the body was discovered at Charles de Gaulle Airport after a flight from the Ivory Coast. It isn’t clear if the child had tried to stow away alone or with others.
The child was about 10 years old, according to the BBC. The body was in the well of the Boeing 777’s landing gear, and an investigation into the death is underway.
“The airline expresses their condolences and deplores this human tragedy,” Air France said in a statement.
Attempts to survive in the wheel wells of planes almost always end in death, as commercial jets fly at high altitudes with reduced levels of oxygen and brutally cold temperatures. There is also a risk of the stowaway getting killed by the landing gear itself.
In July, the body of an African stowaway on a Kenya Airways flight fell from the undercarriage of the plane and dropped into a residential garden in London. Investigators found food and water hidden in the landing gear compartment after the jet had landed.
