Angel's Flight

Matada stowed away in a plane's wheel well.                                 screen shot

The story of Jose Matada, the barely-27-year-old from Mozambique whose body was found on a street in west London in 2012, has almost come full circle, as his family and a former employer with whom he had kept in contact have finally been found. Equally importantly, the reason behind his desperate decision to stow away in the undercarriage of a plane has come to light. Matada, whom his former employer called "a really good person" with "a really soft manner about him," was hoping for a better life. Now, his body lies in an unmarked grave in Twickenham. His family cannot afford to have it flown back for burial at home. "I am struggling since he died," says his mother, Eugenia. "His father died a long time ago, but even though we are poor, I had my children—that's the only consolation I had." It is probably too much to hope that such stories may one day help to soften the way first-world countries look on immigration (story, video): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25576086