Man who fell from KQ plane into a London garden identified

Paul Manyasi, the man who fell from a plane in the United Kingdom. The aircraft was from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi. PHOTO | COURTESY

The stowaway who fell off a Kenya Airways plane moments before it landed at London’s Heathrow Airport in June has been identified.

Sky News has identified the man as 29-year-old Paul Manyasi, who worked as an airport cleaner.

About four months after the man fell from the sky, London police released an e-fit image of the stowaway in hunt for his identity. Pictures of a bag that was found in the compartment and its contents were also released.

“This has been a very sad incident to investigate. This man has a family somewhere, who need to know what happened to their loved one,” a British police officer said while releasing the images.

“Our investigation has included liaison with the authorities in Kenya, from where the flight took off, but so far our efforts to identify this man have proved fruitless. I hope by releasing this e-fit someone known to the deceased will recognise him and make contact.”

An employee of Colnet, a company that provides cleaning services at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, has identified the man as his workmate who went missing in June, Sky News reports.

Irene revealed that her colleague, Paul Manyasi, had gone missing at the end of June.

“We were at work in the morning...he suddenly disappeared. I called his phone but it was off,” Irene, who was Manyasi's girlfriend, told Sky News.

Manyasi lived in the sprawling Mukuru Kwa Njenga slum near the airport.