The body of a black teenager from South Africa was found in the wheel well of a British Airways flight from London that landed in Los Angeles

United Press International:

The youth was found by a pilot during a preflight inspection Sunday afternoon before the Boeing 747 was scheduled to return to London, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Authorities said the youth was black and had documents identifying him as a South African national born in 1989.

Airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles said an autopsy was scheduled for Monday and it wasn't known if the man had entered the wheel well in London or its earlier stop in Hong Kong.

The Torrance (Calif.) Daily Breeze said the man would have been exposed to extreme cold and the thin air in the 11 hours of high-altitude flight across the Atlantic Ocean and continental United States.

The police investigation delayed the flight to London for 307 passengers by almost four hours, the report said.

Death of South African teen found at LAX investigated