LONDON — The body of a man who is believed to have been a stowaway on a plane bound for London has plunged to earth, landing in the backyard of a house and narrowly missing a sunbather.

The man is thought to have fallen from the landing gear compartment of a Kenya Airways flight to Heathrow Airport on Sunday, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement, adding that efforts were underway to establish his identity.

A bag, water and some food were discovered in a wheel well after the plane landed at Heathrow, the police said in the statement, issued on Monday.

An unnamed neighbor told the Press Association of Britain that he had heard a “whomp” from outside and had looked out from an upstairs window into the adjacent garden, where he saw the body.