Unidentified Stowaways

[Goecke]

Hello everyone,

I've noticed quite a few UID cases where the circumstances line up with the decedent being a stowaway. Feel free to add onto this with any other cases that may fit.

Brooklyn, NY, March 1996. Three males in hull of ship from Cote d'Ivoire
These three men, all Black and aged between 20-40, were found in the hull of a ship transporting cacao beans from Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) on March 19, 1996. The hull was fumigated, which presumably killed the men. One had a tentative name of "Kim Wunjo."
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/6866

San Bruno, CA, July 2007. Male in wheel well of plane from Shanghai, China
An Asian man, aged 35-45, was found in the wheel well of a United Airlines airplane on July 19, 2007. The plane had arrived from Shanghai, China, and the man had died from environmental hypoxia. He carried a measuring tape similar to those used by tailors.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
JOHN DOE #07-16 / 07-01677 | Coroner

Eu Claire, WI, September 2001. Two males found in shipping container, one unidentified, possibly from Italy or Romania
Two men were found in a shipping container that had arrived from Livorno, Italy on September 6, 2001. One man was identified as a Romanian citizen, the other is still identified. He was between 25 and 35 and of unknown race. His cause of death has not been stated.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
The Doe Network: 1656UMWI

Queens, NY, June 2005. Leg found in landing gear of plane, from South Africa or Senegal
A human leg was found in the landing gear of a South African Airbus plane on June 7, 2005 in Queens, New York. Additional remains were found along the landing path, but his head has never been found. He was determined to be a Black male aged 28-38 and he had been crushed to death. The plane originated in Johannesburg, South Africa and had a layover in Senegal before arriving in New York.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Orlando, FL, March 1996. Teenager or young man who possibly fell from plane
The skeletal remains of a Black male, aged 16-20, were found in a wooded area in Orlando on March 21, 1996. He had been deceased for one to two years and had likely fallen from a "great height." His body was found on the flight path of two nearby airports, which makes investigators believe he may have fallen from a plane. There's no definitive proof he was a stowaway, but that situation seems most likely since I can't think of any other way a person could fall from a plane and not be noticed.
The Doe Network: 2282UMFL

I also found a few other international cases, which I will post in the next reply.

 

[Goecke]

Vancouver, BC, Canada, April 1997. Stowaway from Nigbo, China found in the Burrard Inlet
This case is admittedly a strange one. The UID was an Asian man, aged 21-25, whose body was found in the Burrard Inlet on April 8, 1997. He was known to have reached Canada by stowing away on a boat from Nigbo, China, which docked on April 4. Since some time passed between the boat docking and his body being discovered, I can't tell if he was alive when he arrived in Canada. His PMI was 1 day to a week, so he could have died before or after. It's also interesting to note that he was found wearing a life jacket. COD not stated.
The Doe Network: Case File 1590UMBC
ArcGIS Web Application

Yorkshire, England, February 2004. Male in hold of ship from Ghana or Liberia
The decomposed body of a Black male was found in the hold of a ship that had come to the UK from Takoradi, Ghana. He could have been anywhere from 16 to 100 and carried a Liberian ID with the name "Aron Davis." No information on if the ID actually belonged to him. After some Googling, it looks like Liberian IDs have the person's date of birth on them, so I'm surprised they weren't able to narrow down the age range using that.
UK Missing Persons Unit

Hillingdon, England, May 2002. Male in landing gear of plane from Saudi Arabia or Ghana
The body of a Black man, aged around 25, was found in the landing gear of a plane on May 15, 2002. The plane had come from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and had stopped in Accra, Ghana before that. Not much info aside from that.
UK Missing Persons Unit

Cambridgeshire, England, April 2006. Possible stowaway from France killed after climbing out of a truck
An 18-30 year old white man was found on April 23, 2006 after he was witnessed climbing out of a lorry (truck) and falling under its wheels, killing him. He was believed to have been a stowaway from Calais, France and had arrived in England the same day he died. Unsure what information makes LE believe he was a stowaway.
UK Missing Persons Unit

Wijgmaal, Belgium, November 2004. Teenage male who possibly fell from plane
This case is very similar to the one of the young man found in Florida who I mentioned in the last post. Near identical circumstances, suspected to have died after falling from a plane, although this man had only been deceased for a few days upon discovery. He is thought to be of African origin (specific country unknown) and between 14 and 19.
374UMBEL

 

[aThousandYearsWide]

When I saw the title I immediately thought of the Florida teen found in 1996!

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[Goecke]

I also found this list on Wikipedia. It only lists wheel well stowaways, but I found a few unidentified people who I couldn't find on NamUs/DoeNet/any other database. So I figured I'd include them here. List of wheel-well stowaway flights - Wikipedia

- April 18, 1966, Moscow, Russia to Paris, France. Male, age ~24
- April 19, 1966, Orly, France to Morocco. Unknown sex, age 20-21
- March 23, 1975, Bogota, Colombia to Miami, Florida. Unknown sex, 'youth'
- February 7, 1998, Baku, Azerbaijan to London, England. Male, age unknown
- August 7, 2001, London, England to New York City. Male, age unknown, died upon landing
- January 23, 2003, Paris, France to Shanghai, China. Two males, age unknown, died upon landing
- February 25, 2003, Mali or Gabon to Paris, France. Male, age unknown
- March 25, 2003, unknown origin to Frankfurt, Germany. Male, age ~19
- December 24, 2003, Montego Bay, Jamaica to New York City. Male, age ~25
- December 30, 2003, Lagos, Nigeria to London, England to New York City. Male, 30s
- July 21, 2004. Dominican Republic to Dusseldorf, Germany. Male, ~20
- October 22, 2004. Miami, Florida to Detroit, Michigan. Male, 20s
- November 16, 2004. Mali to Paris, France. Unknown sex and age
- May 25, 2005. Dunhuang, China to Lanzhou, China. Male, ~10
- January 15, 2007. Banjul, Gambia to Dakar, Senegal to Brussels, Belgium. Unknown sex and age
- February 10, 2010. New York City to Narita, Japan. Male, age unknown
- February 18, 2010. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic to Miami, Florida. Male, age unknown, died on takeoff
- April 2010. Unknown origin to Zurich, Switzerland. African male, age unknown, found in Weisslingen, Switzerland
- July 9, 2010. Beirut, Lebanon to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Male, age unknown.
- July 26, 2012. Cape Town, South Africa to London, England. Male, age unknown.
- October 26, 2012. London, England to Lagos, Nigeria. Male, age unknown.
- April 8, 2013. Younde, Cameroon to Paris, France. Male, age unknown.
- July 25, 2013. Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to Niamey, Niger to Paris, France. Male, age unknown, body found in Niamey
- January 5, 2014. Mashhad, Iran to Medina, Saudi Arabia. Unknown sex and age
- July 27, 2014. Mali to Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Male teenager
- March 14, 2015. Lagos, Nigeria to New York City. Male, 40s
- September 12, 2015. Nairobi, Kenya to Amsterdam, Netherlands. Unknown sex and age
- January 11, 2016. Sao Paulo, Brazil to Paris, France. Male, age unknown
- February 14, 2016. Munich, Germany to Durban, South Africa. Male, age unknown, body found in Zimbabwe
- June 7, 2016. Dakar, Senegal to Brussels, Belgium. Male, age unknown
- September 21, 2016. Nigeria to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Male, age unknown
- November 30, 2016. Lagos, Nigeria to Johannesburg, South Africa. Unknown sex and age
- January 13, 2018. Honolulu, Hawaii to Japan. Male, age unknown, died on takeoff
- February 11, 2018. Kinshasa, DRC to Ukunda, Kenya. Male, age unknown
- August 2018. Caracas, Venezuela to La Fria, Venezuela. Male, age unknown, died on takeoff
- September 30, 2019. Conakry, Guinea to Paris, France. Male, age unknown
- January 7, 2020. Abidjan, Ivory Coast to Paris, France. Male, age unknown

 

[Find Brenda]

Such sad cases.

 

[Goecke]

I've found a few more cases:

Philadelphia, PA, May 2015. Male found in the cargo area of a ship from Cote d'Ivoire
A man aged 20-36 was found in the cargo area of a ship that was transporting cacao beans to Philadelphia from Cote d'Ivoire/Ivory Coast (specific city unknown). He had been dead for about 5 days. He was apparently too decomposed to make out his hair or eye color, but he had six very distinctive-looking tattoos, all of which have been reconstructed and are on his NamUs page. There's also a composite sketch of what he might have looked like.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Miami, FL, October 1981. Male from Colombia found on a plane
A young man, aged 18-27, was found on a plane (unknown if he was in the wheel well, landing gear or somewhere else). The plane originated in Bogota, Colombia and stopped in Cali, Colombia before arriving in Miami. He was still in recognizable condition, and there's a very detailed recon on NamUs.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)