Inquest Hears Details of Stowaway’s Death
Jackie Reddy May 02, 2016
Carlito Vale had flown 8,000 miles in the undercarriage of BA jet, but died when the landing gear opened. This week, an inquest learned the tragic details of his death.
A coroner’s inquest in London heard on Thursday how the body of a decapitated stowaway was found in the air conditioning unit of an office building on June 18 last year.
It has been revealed that Carlito Vale, a Mozambique national, plummeted thousands of feet to his death last summer as a British Airways flight from Johannesburg, South Africa was making its final descent into London Heathrow Airport (LHR).
The inquest at West London Coroner’s Court heard that Vale was killed when the landing gear opened and he dropped thousands of feet onto the roof of the office of Notinthehighstree.com, an online retailer based in Kew, southwest London.
Analysis of the flight data showed that Vale, who had traveled 8,000 miles from South Africa as a stowaway, was alive when he fell nearly 1,400 ft.
Vale’s body was only discovered after a manager was sent to investigate a possible fault with the building’s air conditioning system.
Michael Bentley, the company’s facilities manager, discovered Vale’s body at approximately 9:25 a.m. local time on the morning of June 18. Bentley made a statement to the inquest, read on his behalf by coroner Kally Cheema.
As reported in the Telegraph, it said, “At around 8:44 a.m. I received an email from colleagues claiming the air was stuffy … I went up to the roof to check the air conditioning unit. I saw what I can only describe as a bone sticking out of the smashed aluminum.”
It continued, “At that point I thought I really hope that’s not a body up there as it could only have come for a plane. I looked in and saw a foot, then a leg, then saw it was a human face down inside the unit.”
The authorities were called and they were eventually able to make contact with Vale’s next-of-kin in Mozambique.
Pathologist Dr. Michael Heath carried out the postmortem on Vale and found that he had died of “multiple injuries” and a verdict of accidental death has now been recorded.
[Photo: Central News]
@DocP...that would make sense. THank you.
I suspect the flight data showed the plane was at 1400 feet. The autopsy would have determined that the multiple injuries were sustained while alive. Agree it is a poorly written statement.
"Analysis of the flight data showed that Vale...was alive when he fell nearly 1,400 ft." What kind of flight data are they reviewing that would show that somebody in the landing gear compartment was alive at ~2000' altitude?