A foetus was found on an aircraft belonging to a local airline at King Shaka International Airport in Durban on Friday.

Airports Company SA (Acsa) KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Collin Govender confirmed that the foetus was discovered in one of the aircraft's toilets.

Read the full statement below:

21 June 2019 – Durban. FlySafair regrets to confirm a tragic finding aboard one of our aircraft this morning. Flight FA 411 was scheduled to depart Durban for Johannesburg at 06:15 am. Upon final preparations of the waste management system for the departure of flight, our technical crew discovered what appeared to be an abandoned foetus within the system.

Immediately the teams alerted the relevant authorities to initiate investigations.

Unfortunately, this has resulted in delay to flight FA411 as passengers were asked to disembark the aircraft while FlySafair initiated procedures to recover their onward journey.

Beyond this we are unable to comment on any specifics relating to the finding which is now a police matter. The South African Police Service would be better poised to provide any further information.

“We will be doing everything within our power to aid authorities in the necessary investigations and thank our loyal customers for their patience with the resultant delay” says Kirby Gordon, Head of Sales and Distribution at FlySafair.

Ends.

This is a developing story.