A man may have plunged to his death after clinging to a British Airways plane as it flew over London

Flickr/airwolfhound

The body of a man discovered Thursday on the roof of a business in London may have been a stowaway who fell from a British Airways plane as it was flying over the city, ITV News reports.

The death is currently being treated as "unexplained" by Metropolitan Police, however, it may be connected to a stowaway who was found in the undercarriage of a British Airways jet on the same day.

The second man, believed to be 24-years-old, is in critical condition and is being treated at a London hospital.

Both men may have been clinging onto the plane, which was flying from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Heathrow Airport in London.

The body was found Thursday morning on the roof of notonthehighstreet.com's headquarters in Richmond in west London, the BBC reports.

"At this time there is no evidence to link the death to the discovery of a stowaway in the undercarriage of a plane at Heathrow Airport; however this is one line enquiry into identifying the deceased and the circumstances of his death," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

Wikipedia

The wheel-well of a Boeing 747.

Police added: "The body is so far unidentified and enquiries are ongoing into this and how long it had been at the scene. No next of kin have yet been informed."

A British Airways spokesperson referred us to the Metropolitan Police in regard to the incident.

Wheel-well stowaways are not entirely uncommon, according to the US Federal Aviation Administration. However, these attempts are often fatal as the wheel-well is neither pressurised nor fitted with oxygen equipment. As the aircraft climbs, hypoxia (when your body does not have enough oxygen) will lead to gradual unconsciousness, the FAA explains.

There have been several instances of stowaways dying after falling from the undercarriage of a plane. In 2012, A 26-year-old fell onto a street in west London after hiding on a flight from Angola to Heathrow, the BBC notes.