"Police received a telephone call at 2:30 a.m. Sunday from a witness reporting the fall of human remains at an intersection in Mushrefa neighbourhood" in the Red Sea city, spokesman Nawaf bin Naser al-Bouq said in a Monday statement.

Initial indications were that the remains "fell from a plane's landing gear," said al-Bouq, adding that investigations were ongoing.

In a desperate attempt to cross borders, some people at poorly monitored airports climb inside the bays housing aircraft landing gear.

Most of them freeze to death once the aircraft reach cruising altitude, but some survive.

In 2010, the head of Beirut's airport security resigned after the death of a man who managed to hide in the undercarriage bay of a Saudi-bound jet.

The man's body was found by a maintenance worker who was inspecting the gear of the Saudi-owned Nas Air Airbus A-320 after it landed in Riyadh.

NTJ/BA