US authorities are trying to identify the bodies found in the wheel well of JetBlue | Aviation news
Workers found the bodies during a routine inspection after the plane landed in Florida from New York, the second such incident in a month.
Authorities in the United States are working to identify two bodies discovered in the undercarriage of a JetBlue plane shortly after it landed in the southern state of Florida.
The bodies were found Monday night during a routine post-flight inspection, the airline said. The plane arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from John F Kennedy International Airport in New York.
“At this time, the identities of the individuals and the circumstances surrounding their access to the aircraft remain under investigation,” JetBlue said in a statement.
“This is a heartbreaking situation and we are committed to working closely with the authorities to support their efforts to understand how this happened.”
Paramedics pronounced both people dead at the scene, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
Homicide and Crime Squad units are said to be investigating. Further details were not immediately released and it was unclear how long the bodies had been on the plane.
Wheel wells were often used by individuals who wanted to board aircraft secretly. However, hiding in the hatch, where the wheels retract after takeoff, often proves fatal.
A 2011 FAA report examined 89 cases worldwide of individuals hiding in exterior compartments of aircraft, such as wheel wells. Only 18 survived, indicating an 80 percent mortality rate.
Causes of death include landing gear crush, death from engine heat and fall from the plane. Individuals are also killed by extreme cold at high altitudes and lack of oxygen.
However, in recent years there have been several known cases of people surviving such journeys, including a 16-year-old runaway who survived a five-hour flight from California to Maui, Hawaii, while hiding in a wheel in 2014.
Monday’s incident was the second time in less than a month that a body has been discovered in the wheel of an airplane in the US.
On December 24, a body was found in the wheel of a United Airlines plane after it landed in Maui after taking off from Chicago, Illinois.
The body has not yet been identified.
