A man's body has been found in the undercarriage of a plane at Gatwick Airport.

The Tui flight had travelled from The Gambia's capital Banjul to the airport in West Sussex.

Sussex Police said the discovery was made at the airport at about 04:00 GMT on 7 December.

A Gatwick Airport spokesperson said: "This is terribly sad news and our thoughts go out to the family and friends of the deceased."

A Tui spokesperson said: "We can confirm that an investigation with authorities is under way after a body was discovered on a Tui flight from Gambia to London Gatwick Airport on December 7.

"We would like to express our sincere condolences."

Sussex Police said: "Officers are investigating and a report will be prepared for HM Coroner."

A spokesperson for The Gambia's government said the man was an unidentified black male.

The 2,760-mile (4,444 km) journey from The Gambia to the UK usually takes about six and a half hours on a direct flight.

There have been several cases of stowaways being found dead in the UK.

In 2001, the body of Mohammed Ayaz, 21, from Pakistan, was found in the car park of a branch of Homebase in Richmond, near Heathrow Airport. Four years earlier, another stowaway fell from a plane on to a gasworks near the store

In 2007 the body of a young man was found in the landing gear of a British Airways plane in Los Angeles.

In August 2012, a man's body was found in the undercarriage bay of a plane at Heathrow after a flight from Cape Town. The next month, Jose Matada, 26, from Mozambique, was found in a street in Mortlake, west London. He died of multiple injuries after falling from a plane travelling from Angola. (BBC)

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