The body of a man was discovered Thursday in the landing gear well of a German airline Lufthansa from Iran which had landed at Frankfurt airport, police told AFP on Friday. AFP.

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The lifeless body was found during maintenance work, said a spokesman for the regional police in Hesse, western Germany.

The plane from Tehran landed Thursday morning in Frankfurt.

A can of oxygen with a mask was next to the body, said the police, who had no more information at this stage on the identity of the man and the circumstances of the tragedy.

An investigation has been opened.

This macabre discovery comes at a time when Iran is in the grip of a large wave of violently repressed demonstrations, which has already left dozens dead and hundreds of arrests.

The protests were sparked by the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, three days after she was arrested in Tehran for allegedly breaking the Islamic Republic's strict dress code for women.