Body parts of stowaway fall from plane
AP
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
NEW YORK (AP) - A man's leg and partial torso fell from a South African jetliner onto a suburban New York home yesterday as the aircraft prepared to land at John F Kennedy Airport, authorities and the airline said.
Police said a Long Island resident living about 5 1/2 miles (9 kilometers) from the airport called to report that a leg with a sneaker on the foot had hit the roof of a garage and bounced into the back yard, where it was lying in the grass.
More remains were found inside the wheel well of the South African Airways aircraft when it landed at JFK, arriving from Johannesburg via Dakar, Senegal. Spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration Jim Peters said a customs agent meeting the plane discovered another leg hanging from the left wheel well section.
South African Airways issued a statement saying it had "a stowaway situation where remains of a human body were discovered in the wheel-well of an SAA aircraft bound for New York out of Dakar, Senegal last night."
The severed leg with a part of the man's torso fell onto the home of Pam Hearne, who said she heard "a loud crash" and thought at first that her neighbour was loading a van. She discovered the leg a few hours later.