A man, who is believed to be a stowaway, fell thousands of feet to his death from a Heathrow-bound jet liner on a car parked in a quiet residential street.
A bloodied body of the young man, who crash-landed on the car parked in the street, was found in the Heathrow flight path, police said on Monday.
Horrified residents living in west London, just a few miles from Heathrow, woke to find the young man's body on the road outside their homes at 7:55 am (local time) on Sunday, The Sun reported.
Scotland Yard is investigating suggestions the victim, in his 30s, tumbled from the plane as it prepared to land at Heathrow.
The man, who has not been formally identified, suffered multiple injuries when he was found in Portman Avenue, Mortlake. Local Joe Dodd said he woke to find the street outside sealed off by police on Sunday.
"When I got up at eight the body was still on the pavement. They had not moved it. We were not allowed out of our house for ages. There was police and ambulances everywhere," he said.
"From where I was it looked like he had a head injury of some kind. There was loads of blood everywhere, all over the street and on a car," he added.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "We were called to reports of a dead body at 7:55 am yesterday. The victim had multiple injuries. The death is currently being treated as unexplained." "Speculation that he may have been a stowaway who had fallen from a plane is one line of inquiry," he added.
A post mortem examination will be carried out later this week.