Farmer finds body beneath Schiphol flight path; Police suspect fall from a plane

A body was discovered Thursday evening in a field on Hoofdweg in Abbenes, located under a flight path to Schiphol Airport. Police suspect the person may have fallen after hiding in an aircraft’s landing gear, but stress that other explanations are still possible. “It’s also conceivable that the person went there on their own or was placed there, dead or alive,” a spokesperson said.

Authorities have not yet determined when the person ended up in the field. The spokesperson said it is “highly likely that the body had been there for quite a while.” Police are using drones and sniffer dogs to search the area and look for clues that could shed light on the cause of death. The victim’s gender has not yet been identified.

Police are examining whether there are indications of foul play, but no possibilities have been ruled out at this stage. The body was found by a farmer who was plowing the field. A local resident told NH Nieuws that the body may have been partially buried under clay, which could explain why it was previously overlooked.

Although stowaways in aircraft landing gear are uncommon, there have been previous incidents. In 2021, a body was discovered in the landing gear of a KLM plane. Earlier that year, a 16-year-old Kenyan boy survived a flight from London after concealing himself in the landing gear of a plane that landed at Maastricht Aachen Airport.