A pilot for British Airways was reportedly tortured after he was kidnapped while shopping during a stopover between flights in South Africa.

The airline has said it is “supporting” a colleague and local authorities with their investigation, but offered no further details.

The Sun newspaper reports a source claiming the pilot was only released after he was left “penniless”.

An alert was sent to airline staff notifying them a crew member “was abducted” outside a supermarket, the newspaper adds.

“It’s staggering what happened to the pilot. It was like something out of the movies,” a source is reported as saying.

The pilot was reportedly approached by a woman in a supermarket car park, north of the Melrose Arch complex in Johannesburg, who asked him to help with her bags.

When they reached her vehicle, he was pushed inside by a group of men and driven to a remote part of the city to be “badly roughed up”.

A replacement had to be drafted in, the report adds, as the pilot was unfit to fly the plane back to London.

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“He fell for the scam of agreeing to help a woman in need, and before he knew it, was bundled in a vehicle and driven away,” the source said.

“He then endured hours of torture and physical assaults. It only ended when he was left penniless. He is just happy to be alive.”

British Airways told Sky News: “We are supporting our colleague and the local authorities with their investigation.”

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