This archive report was first published on 6 November 2019.
On November 5, 2019, a Kenya Airways Boeing 787 was forced to return to Johannesburg after a maintenance engineer was allegedly left on board.
The aircraft had departed from Johannesburg to Nairobi when the crew was informed that the engineer should have been left behind.
According to the Aviation Herald, the plane was climbing out of Johannesburg when the crew was alerted to the issue.
The crew turned the plane around and returned to Johannesburg about 30 minutes later.
Upon landing, the maintenance engineer was reportedly discovered and was found to be conscious.
Kenya Airways initially did not confirm the 'stowaway' claims, stating only that the flight had turned back due to operational reasons.
However, the airline later acknowledged the delay, stating that the flight left Johannesburg at 1335Hrs.
The aircraft remained on the ground for about an hour before departing again and reaching Nairobi with a delay of 105 minutes.
This incident comes after a similar incident in June, where the body of a male stowaway fell off a Kenya Airways plane moments before it landed at London's Heathrow Airport.
