Nigeria's aviation authorities said on Tuesday that they had removed
the body of a stowaway discovered in the undercarriage of an aircraft
flying from Lagos to New York.
"The corpse, whose identity is yet
to be ascertained, has been deposited at an undisclosed mortuary,"
Yakubu Dati, of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), said
in a statement.
The man's body was discovered in the wheel
compartment of the Arik Air plane on Saturday at Lagos' international
airport, as ground staff prepared the jet for another flight to New
York, he added.
"FAAN is currently reviewing footages of the CCTV
system and airside security operations with a view to identifying the
gaps and personnel failure, if any, in order to take remedial actions,"
he said.
Two years ago, the body of stowaway was discovered at the
same airport on a plane that had just arrived from New York, with harsh
social and economic conditions in Nigeria blamed for the phenomenon.
There
was no immediate response from Arik Air when contacted by AFP but the
private airline's spokesman confirmed the incident in local media.
"Arik
Air engineers were checking the aircraft in preparation for a flight
when the body of the stowaway was discovered in the main wheel well of
the aircraft," said Adebanji Ola in a statement.
"Investigations
are still on to determine where the stowaway originated," he said,
adding that the aircraft, an Airbus A345-500, was fumigated.
The
This Day newspaper said security officials believe the body may have
been in the wheel well of the aircraft since last Wednesday and was
undiscovered after a previous flight.
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