Police are still unable to identify a teenage boy who was found dead after falling from a plane almost three years ago.
The boy's body was found on the railway tracks in Richmond-upon-Thames, England, on December 14, 2020, after he fell from a flight to Heathrow. Though, he has still not been identified.
The young victim's body - which The Sun detailed was located between London's Mortlake and North Sheen stations - is believed to be aged between 15 and 18. The outlet revealed that he had suffered "major injuries" to his head, neck, chest, and torso which were consistent with both "contact with a moving train and a fall from height such as an overflying aircraft".
Police are still baffled as to exactly who the young teen is.
In fact, despite investigating the case since December 2020, police are yet to make contact with the boy's family. A subsequent inquest at West London Coroners Court heard that this was despite "sterling efforts" from both the British Transport Police and the National Crime Agency.
The British Transport Police had been alerted to a casualty on the rail line around 10:00 AM on the day the boy's body was discovered. Paramedics promptly appeared on the scene but the boy had already passed away.
Unfortunately, there was no documentation located near the body, nor was there any form of identification - such as visible features like tattoos or scarring. The boy was also found without shoes and socks, and had been wearing a green polo shirt emblazoned with the words: "Sulid Supra Used High Quality Motorcycle Parts".
Police were able to trace this shirt back to a motorcycle shop in Nigeria, but received no luck as the owner of the business revealed that there were no missing employees. British police also hit another roadblock after no one came forward with information about the boy, despite Nigerian authorities circulating a facial depiction of the him.
An autopsy revealed that the boy had no signs of any natural diseases, and there was no evidence of a third party being involved in the mysterious death. In fact, forensic pathologist Dr Robert Charles Chapman stated: "In my opinion, it is probable he died prior to impact on the railway track". As such, his cause of death was given as hypothermia and hypoxia at altitude, which is reportedly common with people who hide on airplanes.
One police theory is that the young boy could possibly have fallen from a flight from Lagos to Heathrow, which apparently arrived about six hours before his body was discovered. Upon further investigation it was discovered that there were boot marks found in the wheel well of that airplane.
Acting Senior Coroner Lydia Brown said, via The Sun: "I'm very conscious that somewhere out there this young man has a family who are wondering about him. Sadly, the contact has not been made for me to share what I know about this young man. He took steps to access this aircraft in a short period of time and lost his life during his endeavours to reach the UK."
"Whatever he was trying to achieve went disastrously wrong and ended with the loss of his life rather than any other opportunities," she added.
