This archive report was first published on 7 November 2019.
On November 5, 2019, a Kenya Airways Boeing 787 was forced to return to Johannesburg due to an alleged 'stowaway', according to The Aviation Herald.
The aircraft had departed from Johannesburg to Nairobi with a mechanic still on board, despite being scheduled to leave him behind in South Africa's financial capital.
As the plane was climbing out, the crew was informed that a maintenance engineer should have been left in Johannesburg, prompting them to turn around and return to the airport about 30 minutes later.
After landing, the maintenance engineer was allegedly discovered on the runway, and the crew reportedly said, 'He's here and conscious!'
Kenya Airways, however, did not confirm the claims of the 'stowaway', stating only that the flight had an air-turn back due to operational reasons.
The aircraft remained on the ground for about an hour before departing again and landing in Nairobi after a 105-minute delay.
This incident is not the first time a KQ flight has been rocked by a stowaway incident, with a similar incident occurring in June 2019 when the body of a male stowaway fell off a Kenya Airways plane moments before it landed at London's Heathrow Airport.
