The body of an unidentified person was found inside the wheel well of an aircraft at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 2 (KLIA2) on 27 August, raising questions about how the individual accessed the plane before its departure from Tokyo.
Engineering personnel detected a foul smell coming from the landing gear compartment of a flight arriving from Tokyo, Japan, which had landed at about 6.30am, The Star reported. The compartment was opened at about 6.55am and the body was discovered.
The victim was wearing jeans and a white shirt. Police forensic personnel were deployed to the scene after the discovery was reported to the KLIA2 police station operations room, NST reported.
Initial investigations suggest the victim was in their 20s and may have been dead for more than 72 hours. No identification documents were found on the body. The gender has not been established.
Airport engineering staff had been carrying out routine checks on the aircraft when the odour was detected, prompting them to open the landing gear compartment, The Star noted. The matter was immediately reported to airport police.
The incident highlights the extreme danger of attempting to stow away in an aircraft’s wheel well. At cruising altitude, temperatures inside the landing gear compartment can drop below minus 50 degrees Celsius and oxygen levels fall to life-threatening lows. The US Federal Aviation Administration has documented that survival rates for wheel well stowaways are extremely low, with most individuals dying from hypothermia, hypoxia, or being crushed by retracting landing gear during takeoff.
The fact that the victim is believed to have been dead for more than 72 hours suggests the death may have occurred during the flight or shortly before departure from Tokyo Narita or Haneda airport. Authorities have not confirmed which Japanese airport the flight departed from.
Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, which operates KLIA2, has not issued a public statement on the incident. Police are working to determine the victim’s identity and the cause of death.
Wheel well stowaway incidents, while rare, occur at major international airports worldwide. Most recently, several cases have been reported involving flights from South and Southeast Asia to destinations in the Middle East and Europe. Airport security protocols typically require checks of wheel well compartments before departure, but the timing and frequency of these inspections vary between airlines and airports.
Investigations are ongoing.
