Enhanced security at Cape Town International airport

All international flights leaving Cape Town International Airport after dusk are being escorted by security patrols before take-off, according to Airports Company South Africa.

The airport's enhanced security measures are in response to the death of a man who had entered the airport grounds on 22 August, and after stowing away on a British Airways (BA) aeroplane, was found dead inside the carrier's landing gear in London the following morning.

Although security officers spotted the man entering the airfield and moving towards a BA craft preparing for takeoff, they failed to trace his whereabouts.

It is believed that the man could have endured temperatures of 60C below freezing, as well as oxygen deprivation, during the 11-and-a-half-hour flight. The body has still not been identified but the event is not thought to have been suspicious.

Security patrols at Cape Town's airport will now drive behind every international flight at night time, to monitor the aeroplane's undercarriage. The airport has also provided additional security on its perimeter fence.