The dead body of a stowaway, suspected to be from Nigeria was on Wednesday found in the main wheel well of one of Arik Air’s A330-200 aircraft at the Oliver Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg.


The airline confirmed the incident in a statement by its Communications Manager, Mr Ola Adebanji in Lagos.

The aircraft operated the scheduled Lagos-Johannesburg flight that departed the Murtala Muhammed International Airport at 3:55pm on Tuesday and arrived in Johannesburg shortly before 11pm, according to the airline.

It said engineers of South African Airways Technical facility at the Oliver Tambo International Airport, where the aircraft was scheduled for a routine maintenance check, discovered the body of the stowaway during the inspection phase.

The airline said investigations were ongoing to determine how the stowaway found his way into the aircraft’s main wheel well.